Deceptions
by Amrita Glittersong
Summary: A few months after Geonosis, in a surprising turn of events, Dooku contacts ObiWan in hopes of meeting with him for negotiations. When Sidious arrives, things don't go as planned, and ObiWan ends up posing as something he never thought he would: A Sith.
1. Chapter 1

**Notes**: I've wanted to write something with Dooku and Obi-Wan interacting a lot for some time now, as though they got little canon interaction, they seemed to have a facinating dynamic. This story will be a departure from the norm for me, as I tend to shy away from epics, add a signifigant amount of humor into a fic, and have basic, straightforward storylines, so it should be fun to do something different. Dooku is a character I have little experience writing for and I haven't read Dark Rendezvous yet (I, uh, sort of usually can't stand Yoda) so I'm open to some constructive criticism about his characterization. And for anything in general. That said, I hope you all enjoy the first chapter!

* * *

**Deceptions**  
Chapter 1  
by: Amrita Glittersong

Not for the first time that day, Obi-Wan Kenobi was wondering if he'd made a big mistake.

He waited, silent and hidden in the shadows of a building, watching the deserted streets for any sign of movement. Chances were good he would notice the person he was meeting before they noticed him and he hoped that would indeed be the case; without the usually constant presence of Anakin at his side, he was feeling less daring than normal. But with or without his padawan, meeting with Count Dooku was not a situation to be treated casually.

Obi-Wan been more than slightly surprised to receive a message from Count Dooku, sent directly to his Delta-7, earlier on in the day. It had sounded almost too good to be true; Dooku wanted to meet with him to discuss the possibility of a cease fire, if not an outright stop to the war that had just begun the month before. And not only that, but he wanted to meet with him on a neutral planet that had not been contacted by the Separatists or the Republic.

Obi-Wan had sent an emergency message to Coruscant, telling them of the transmission and asking their advice. After some discussion, he and the Council had agreed it was worth the risk. Anakin, on Coruscant while Obi-Wan had been on his scouting mission, was less than pleased upon finding out this decision. It took quite awhile for Obi-Wan to convince him not to rush out in his own Delta-7, the newly named _Azure Angel_, to join him.

So now, Obi-Wan was waiting for Dooku to arrive in the quiet, barren city, trying to maintain his Jedi calm. The Force, which was usually a soothing presence, was instead setting his nerves on edge as it told him that meeting with Dooku was the right choice and that he was in danger all at once. It warned him with a gentle nudge that the Sith had arrived and, glancing out of the shadows, he was slightly relieved to see that Dooku was, as he'd said he would be, alone.

The Jedi Knight watched for a minute or two as Dooku approached, before stepping out of the shadows to make his presence known. "Dooku."

"Ah, Obi-Wan. I was wondering if you would be here." Dooku said cordially, as if there was nothing out of the norm about their meeting. "It is a rather daring thing I have asked of you, after all."

Obi-Wan regarded him, nodding slightly as he tried to get a sense of Dooku's intentions. It was hard to read the Sith, just as it had been the last time they had met, and he was getting nothing clear to indicate if Dooku did indeed wish to have negotiations as he'd said. He would simply have to take the chance. "If there is a possibility we can come to some sort of agreement to end this war, then I will do what I must."

"An answer I would expect from a Jedi." Dooku responded, tone serious but otherwise doing nothing to give away his thoughts. He motioned to a building across the street. "We should go inside. I've made arrangements with the shop keeper, and we won't be bothered as we talk."

Obi-Wan nodded slightly again; the Force was quiet and he felt nothing to indicate that Dooku's words were insincere. Following the Sith, he entered the building, which turned out to be a small, quaint cafe; tidy and clean, but otherwise unremarkable. Slightly off-white tiles covered the floors, and the walls were a muted beige color while the tables were a white that was almost pink. The Jedi and Sith sat down across from each other at one of the small tables, to make for one of the strangest scenes Obi-Wan thought he'd ever been a part of.

"I don't believe either of us have an interest in pleasantries at the moment, so I will skip them." Dooku began, regarding Obi-Wan seriously. He hesitated a moment, before continuing. "I do not say this lightly, but I have made a mistake. I have asked to meet with you as I believe you are my only hope."

Obi-Wan had to use every bit of his self control not to let his eyebrows shoot up towards his hairline as he heard those words. That had certainly not been what he was expecting. "...Oh?"

"Yes." Dooku responded. "Things are... Not going as I have planned."

_'The feeling is mutual.' _Obi-Wan thought, as he regarded the Count seriously. "Such as?"

Dooku paused again, seemingly considering his words. "I suspect my master is going to replace me."

Obi-Wan was not particularly surprised, though he was a little that Dooku apparently was. "Surely you know that Sith go through apprentices and masters rather quickly, Dooku." He stated evenly. "Were you not informed of this _before_ you turned?"

Dooku almost sighed, seemingly slightly exasperated. "I was under the impression I would not be simply a place holder for a younger apprentice."

"And you were mistaken." Obi-Wan finished. "Now you wish help to get yourself out of a problem you made for yourself? Perhaps you should have timed this better, Dooku. _Before_ you killed one hundred and seventy-nine Jedi on Geonosis and took my padawan's arm, perhaps."

A flicker of surprise crossed Dooku's face for a moment before he returned to his usual impassive expression. "Anger is not very Jedi of you, Obi-Wan."

"And cowardice is neither Jedi or Sith of you, Dooku."

Dooku nodded slowly. "Indeed." Unexpectedly, he laughed quietly. "I could never win arguments with Qui-Gon, either."

Obi-Wan looked at him impassively, his momentary flare in temper fading. This was the second time in the three conversations he'd had with Dooku that Qui-Gon was mentioned, and Dooku seemed to invoke his name whenever he was attempting to convince Obi-Wan of something, as the Jedi had noticed. He didn't find it amusing. "I'm sure." He attempted to steer the conversation back onto negotiation, away from the rather personal subject of Qui-Gon. "If I _do_ decide to help you, Dooku, what exactly do you want? You _can_ leave the Sith on your own."

"Yes, but leaving the Sith is... Not as acceptable as leaving the Jedi Order." Dooku responded. "My master would kill me. Literally."

"So you wish the assistance of the Jedi, to protect you." Obi-Wan said, trying not to let his utter disdain show on his face. "After everything you have done."

"Yes." Dooku said simply. "That is the idea. Of course, the Jedi would not be without reward for this... After all, Obi-Wan, I do know the identity of the Sith Lord."

Obi-Wan realized he should have thought about that earlier. "So in return for the protection of the Jedi, you would give us the information we would need to find the Sith Lord." It sounded like a reasonable enough deal... If too good to be true.

"I see that we are now on the same page." Dooku commented with a nod of his head. "Yes. That is the deal I propose. Without me, the Separatists may or may not fall apart, but the Jedi will have the knowledge needed to defeat their main enemy. However, I would need to be pardoned and allowed to resume my life as Count of Serenno upon the removal of the Sith."

Obi-Wan considered this all for a moment. "I cannot promise you a pardon, Dooku, and in fact I will not entertain the idea myself. You'll have to discuss it with the Council on your own. However, if you do indeed inform us of the Sith Lord's identity and are found to have been telling the truth, I am confident I can arrange protection for you."

Dooku smiled then, and though it was an odd sight, it seemed sincere. "I knew we could come to some sort of agreement, Obi-Wan. In fact-" He suddenly cut off, the smile disappearing from his face in an instant, though Obi-Wan missed it as he was already turning to look for the disturbance they had both felt.

It wasn't hard to find it, in fact, it was nearly impossible to miss. As Obi-Wan turned around, the feeling that had appeared so suddenly was easily pinpointed as coming from the cloaked figure in the doorway of the building. Darkness rolled off the being in waves, strong enough to make the Jedi feel immediately dizzy and anxious. He couldn't draw his eyes away from the figure as it stepped within the cafe, barely registering the sound of Dooku's chair sliding backwards forcefully as the Count stood up. Vaguely, Obi-Wan realized he was already on his feet as well.

"Master, this is a... Surprise." Dooku's words seemed almost comical for the situation, and Obi-Wan would have been tempted to laugh if he hadn't felt so frozen. "This is... Not what it appears to be."

"Is that so?" The voice of the Sith Lord was sinister and gravelly, but it shook Obi-Wan from his daze. It almost sounded familiar, in a way, as if he'd somehow heard this person speak before. "Then what _is_ it, Lord Tyrannus?"

Dooku took a few steps forward to pass Obi-Wan and glanced back over his shoulder at the Jedi in a look that was clearly 'play along' before he spoke to the Sith Lord--Darth Sidious--again. "Master... Obi-Wan has come to me in hopes of becoming my apprentice."

Obi-Wan was thankful that Dooku was now at least mostly blocking him from the Sith Lord's view, as he was unable to keep the surprise he felt off his face. He was barely able to compose himself before Dooku moved a moment later, so as not to make it obvious that blocking the Jedi had been his intention, and Obi-Wan fixed the Sith Master in the doorway with as expressiveless of a look as he possibly could manage.

"Oh?" Sidious drawled out, sounding interested, and Obi-Wan again felt he knew the voice. "Did you, now, Kenobi?"

Obi-Wan stared at the dark, indistinguishable face of the Sith and answered as calmly as he could. "I did."

The Sith regarded him for a long, tense moment. Obi-Wan fought to keep from fidgeting or giving away just how nervous he was; he'd faced down many things, including two other Sith, but nothing compared to the enemy standing just metres from him. The air felt heavy and thick, and the Force was screaming incoherent things to him from so many directions he almost had to block himself from it just to concentrate.

Finally, Sidious spoke again, this time to Dooku. "And what did you tell him, Lord Tyrannus?"

Dooku stepped forward again slightly to respond. "That I would speak to you, of course, Master. The Rule of Two must be considered, after all."

"Indeed it must." Sidious said, turning his attention again towards Obi-Wan. "I'm sure you would know this, Kenobi."

"I do." Obi-Wan responded, not offering any more information than necessary as he tried to figure out the best way to keep Dooku's cover story even the slightest bit believable. Fortunately, Dooku seemingly already had it all planned out.

"I offered him the chance to join me on Geonosis, as you know." Dooku explained. "It is not surprising he would believe that offer stood, only a month later."

The Sith Master considered this, drawing closer, and Obi-Wan had to fight the strong impulse to draw his lightsabre and make a desperate attempt to destroy Sidious then and there. "I suppose..."

There was another tense silence as Sidious stopped less than three metres away, regarding both Dooku and Obi-Wan critically. The darkness rolled from him, rippling across The Force and only amplified by the close proximity, and Obi-Wan carefully pulled The Force around himself to try to hold some of the darkness away from him. The Jedi was slightly surprised to realize that he couldn't clearly see Sidious' features even from such a close distance. The only details he could clearly discern were that the Sith was much older than himself, perhaps Dooku's age, and that he was about as tall as Obi-Wan was.

"Why not take him as one of your Acolytes, Tyrannus?" The Sith Lord asked, prompting Obi-Wan to wonder, _'What Acolytes?'_

"To be quite honest," Dooku stated, managing to combine respect and the implication that it should be obvious into his tone at the same time, "Can you imagine _Kenobi_ as a mere Acolyte? Not to mention that one of them will make the mistake of provoking him and I will end up having to replace an entire swath of them afterwards."

Sidious actually chuckled at that, which Obi-Wan couldn't tell if was disturbing or just outright creepy. "Perhaps. However, you _know_ the reason the Rule of Two is in effect."

"Of course, Master." Dooku acknowledged humbly with a nod. "I would never have suggested it if we had not already discussed a possible amendment to the Rule."

Obi-Wan barely kept from shooting a look at Dooku. Something wasn't right here; wasn't Dooku's main concern that he was going to be _replaced_ as an apprentice, not that the Sith Lord was going to take a second one? Was it possible this entire thing was Dooku's plan from the very beginning? Had he walked right into a trap? A new feeling of dread was settling over him to combine with what he already felt from Sidious, and he wanted nothing more than to get out of the cafe, off the planet, and back to Coruscant. Again, he found himself wishing Anakin was with him.

But right now, he was alone. At best, he had a possible ally in Dooku, but the Count couldn't be trusted. Obi-Wan stood his ground, too deep into the situation to get out. He'd simply had no choice but to go along and see where the Force guided him.

Pulling himself from his thoughts, Obi-Wan mentally cursed himself as he noticed he'd zoned out so far he'd missed that Dooku was still speaking and only caught the last few words, "-will not challenge you."

Sidious chuckled again, though it was even colder and harsher than before, before responding to Dooku's words. "You and Kenobi are no match for me _now_, let alone once I have my second apprentice at my side. I have no fear of you. So be it, Lord Tyrannus. Kenobi will be your apprentice."

"Thank you, my Master." Dooku responded, bowing respectfully to the Sith Lord before turning towards Obi-Wan. "Kneel."

Obi-Wan just stared at him, and Dooku stared back. Wondering what he had gotten himself into, Obi-Wan slowly lowered to one knee, bowing his head and contemplating if he could get out of the building before they could blast him with Force Lightning if he made a run for it. He felt them both watching him, however, and decided his chances probably wouldn't be good.

"Obi-Wan." Dooku said, tone formal. "Do you renounce the Jedi and your allegiance to their Order?"

Obi-Wan hesitated, unsure if he could really agree to this oath, even falsely. He had no problem with lying when the occasion called for it, but still, he felt uneasy. Surely Sidious would be able to tell if he wasn't sincere? But he had no other choice than to try. "...Yes."

"Do you pledge yourself to the Order of the Sith?"

_'No.' _"Yes."

"Will you uphold the Code and teachings of the Sith?"

'_Not a chance.'_ "Yes."

Dooku let the silence hang in the air for a moment, then continued. "Rise, my apprentice."

Obi-Wan stood up without hesitation, to see Dooku apparently considering something and the Sith Lord just watching the proceedings calmly.

"You will need a proper Sith name." Dooku added, regarding his new apprentice. "That can wait for a short time, however."

Obi-Wan nodded slightly, not trusting himself to respond as the surreality of it all was taking hold. Idly, a part of his mind seemingly detached from the sheer horror of the situation found amusement in the very idea of him being Darth anything. He wondered what Anakin would say when he heard about it.

It was silent for nearly a minute, and Obi-Wan was beginning to wonder if there was something he was expected to do. But it seemed there wasn't, as Sidious abruptly turned and began to sweep away towards the door. Upon reaching it, he paused, and turned back slightly to speak. "I expect you to serve us well, Kenobi." He said, an unmissable dose of warning lacing his voice. "You proved your potential ten years ago, but I will not tolerate failure."

Obi-Wan inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment and apparently that was enough, as Sidious again turned away and disappeared out the door as quickly as he had appeared.

There was again silence for a few more minutes, as Obi-Wan waited until he was certain Sidious was gone before he sat down hard on the nearest chair, not entirely certain of what had just happened and still reeling from it all. He felt sick and shaky, like he'd had a fever; he hoped that was indeed the case and that this had all been a strange hallucination, and he would soon wake up in the Med Ward back in the Temple.

It seemed that was not to be the case, however, no matter how he wished it was. As a shadow crossed in front of him, he looked up to see that Dooku was peering down at him, expression unreadable as usual. There was a moment before Dooku spoke. "You look unwell."

"I wonder why." Obi-Wan responded, tone distant from shock and only containing the slightest hint of sarcasm. Regaining his composure, he focused on Dooku and asked the first question that came into his head. "What were you _thinking?_"

"About what?" Dooku asked mildly, as if he had absolutely no idea what Obi-Wan could have been referring to.

"About your cover story." Obi-Wan clarified, too drained to be annoyed. "Which I must say, I am astounded worked."

"You and I both." Dooku admitted, sitting down on a nearby chair as he spoke. He gazed at Obi-Wan seriously. "But what would _you_ have suggested, Obi-Wan? I was attempting to keep us both from being killed, and it worked, for the moment at least."

Obi-Wan thought that over for a moment, and shrugged slightly. It _had_ worked, and that was the most important thing; they were both still alive. Almost randomly, he commented on something that passed through his mind as he thought over what had just happened. "I wasn't aware Sith initiation rituals were so short."

Dooku gave him an unfathomable look. "I abridged it. I didn't want it too be too long, as I wasn't certain how long it would take for your composure to expire."

Obi-Wan looked back at him, trying to tell if the Count was serious or not. It seemed he was. "...That was probably for the best."

"I thought so." Dooku agreed. There was silence for a few seconds. "You did well, you know. I don't believe he suspected anything, as ludicrous as the entire story was."

"I suppose I will take that as a compliment." Obi-Wan responded dryly, feeling a bit better and standing up. "And now, I need to contact the Council and inform them of the negotiations between us. They still stand, I presume?"

"They do." Dooku affirmed, not getting up from his place yet as he watched Obi-Wan. "But Obi-Wan, have you considered this might be an opportunity?"

"Oh?" Obi-Wan asked, already nearly to the door of the cafe. He needed to get back to his Delta-7 to send a communication, as his only long-range communicator was built into the ship.

Dooku nodded, though Obi-Wan sensed rather than saw it. "This is a perfect opportunity to infiltrate the Sith."

"No. I have no intention of posing as a Sith Apprentice." Obi-Wan informed him, without turning around. He then looked over his shoulder and gave him a critical expression. "And why would I _need_ to? _You_ are the only source of information about the Sith that we need."

"We?" Dooku asked, sounding almost amused. "Which 'we' do you refer to, Obi-Wan? You are a Sith at the moment, you know."

Obi-Wan whirled to face him. "I am no such thing, Dooku." He said lowly. "And do not refer to me as such again unless absolutely necessary."

Dooku just nodded slightly, seemingly unfazed. "If you wish."

"I am going to contact the Council. I will return once I have spoken to them to inform you of their decision regarding your terms." Obi-Wan told him and, without waiting for a response, strode out into the streets. Once out of sight, he ran the entire way back to his starfighter.

* * *

It was less than a mile to where he'd landed, and it didn't take Obi-Wan more than a few minutes to reach the Delta-7. It took far longer until he felt he'd composed himself well enough to be presentable to the Council. 

R4 took care of the technical aspect of the call once Obi-Wan told her who to contact, and a moment later the small hologram of the Council appeared. Mace Windu spoke first. "Obi-Wan. We're glad to see you're alright. Have you made contact with Dooku?"

"I have." Obi-Wan responded evenly. "He and I have reached an agreement than should be acceptable to both sides, though there were unexpected complications."

"Complications? Such as?" Mace prompted, leaning forward in his chair slightly.

Obi-Wan paused a moment as he considered how to phrase his words. "Darth Sidious arrived in the middle of the meeting. He now believes I am Dooku's Sith Apprentice."

The Council was silent for a good thirty seconds before Mace spoke again. "...And how exactly did this come about?"

Obi-Wan recounted the events of the past hour to the best of his abilities, including his feeling that the Sith was someone he personally knew or at least had met once before. When he finished, the Council was again quiet.

"Quite a situation this is, Obi-Wan. A talent for getting into trouble, you have." Yoda commented, though he looked amused. "Raises a question of how to proceed, this does."

Obi-Wan frowned inwardly. He knew he wasn't going to like this. "What do you mean?"

"An opportunity, this is. Able to infiltrate the Sith, you now are."

"Dooku said nearly the exact same words to me earlier." Obi-Wan responded, carefully keeping the displeasure out of his tone. "I will ask the same question I asked of him; why is it necessary? He agreed to tell of Sidious' identity, and that is what we need."

"Yes, but there are other things you could discover." Mace pointed out. "You mentioned something about Acolytes? And considering Dooku is commanding the Separatists, you could would be in a perfect position to report on their bases."

"Dooku could provide us with this information." Obi-Wan protested, not pleased in the slightest.

"He could, but only what he knows right now. The Separatists may not disband, even with both Dooku and Sidious gone. This may be our best chance to end this war quickly, Obi-Wan." Mace's tone was holding no room for argument, and Obi-Wan knew he was stuck. "We need you to do this."

Obi-Wan hesitated, wanting nothing more than to tell them there was absolutely no chance he would agree. But what he ended up saying was nothing of the sort. "...Yes, Master. I will not fail you."

Mace nodded approvingly. "Tell Dooku that if he works alongside you in this, reveals the identity of the Sith Lord, and the war is successfully won for the Republic, he will have both his protection and his pardon. Do you feel that he was sincere in his intent to leave the Sith?"

Obi-Wan thought carefully before answering. "I am not certain. The Force tells me there is more to this than is apparent. But Dooku did appear sincere. With the promise of the help of the Jedi, I believe he will not hinder my attempts to give information to the Republic."

"It is settled, then. Be careful, Obi-Wan." Mace said seriously, staring intently at him from the hologram. "If there is any point at which you feel you cannot reasonably continue in this assignment for any reason, return to Coruscant immediately."

"Yes, Master. Obi-Wan agreed, pausing a moment before speaking again. "Master Windu, if I may make a request...?"

"Of course; go ahead." Mace responded with an encouraging nod.

"Would you tell Anakin of the truth about what is going on, whether the other Jedi are informed or not? And _do not_ let him come after me for any reason. I want him to know that I have not turned, but he must not try to join me."

"Accepted, your request is." Yoda spoke up again. "Informed of this situation, Skywalker will be."

Mace nodded again in agreement, then looked back at Obi-Wan. "He will be assigned to Master Ki-Adi-Mundi in your absence. There is only one more thing I need to ask you, Obi-Wan."

"Yes?" Obi-Wan asked, wondering what it could be.

Mace smirked. "What do we call you, o' Sith Apprentice?"

Obi-Wan allowed himself to scowl at the Council member. "I have no Sith name as of the moment. I'm certain Dooku will have more fun than he should thinking of one, however."

"I imagine." Mace agreed, before his expression became serious again. "Contact us again as soon as you can, Obi-Wan. May The Force be with you."

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Okay, finally finished another chapter. Believe it or not, this is quick for me. :P

Also, I have looked over this chapter, but it's quite late so if there is anything really silly I missed, that's why. :P If you mention it, I'll try and fix it. Also, I unfortunatly won't get a chance to look at the schematics of the solar sailer from the AOTC Incredible Cross-sections book until late tomorrow, so I took a guess at the interior of the ship based on what I read. Hopefully it won't be too far off.

Last but not least, thanks a ton to everyone who reviewed and left comments, suggestions, and compliments for this fic. Everyone's been awesome, and I hope you all enjoy the next chapter. :)

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**Deceptions**  
Chapter 2  
by: Amrita Glittersong

Obi-Wan entered the cafe cautiously ten minutes later, seeing that Dooku was where he had left him, albeit now drinking tea he had apparently procured from somewhere in the kitchens. Obi-Wan again reflected on just how _strange_ this all was. He and Dooku were now seemingly on the same side, _he_ was a Sith, and the Council had just charged him with the task of keeping up appearances long enough to relay information that could win the war for the Republic. Obi-Wan still vaguely wondered when he was going to wake up.

"Obi-Wan; you've returned." Dooku stated the obvious, taking another sip of tea.

"I have." Obi-Wan responded, sitting down in his chair and turning to face Dooku. "The Council has extended this offer to you: in exchange for helping me infiltrate the Sith and gain information that will help the Republic win the war, as well as giving the Jedi the identity of Sidious, you will be granted the protection and the pardon you asked for."

Dooku considered this as he sipped his tea, finally nodding. "Agreed." They were both silent for a short time, before Dooku spoke again. "Do you have any suggestions?"

Obi-Wan looked at him. "About what?"

"Your Sith name." Dooku responded calmly, taking another sip of tea from a cup that Obi-Wan idly noticed was the same white-pink as the tables. "Traditionally, a Sith names his or her apprentice, but this is a special case."

"No. I have no suggestions." Obi-Wan responded, sounding distinctly unamused with the entire situation.

"We could call you Darth Unimaginative." Dooku suggested, with just the slightest bit of humor. Obi-Wan would have given him a dark look in response if the dry, mostly serious tone hadn't been so reminiscent of the way Qui-Gon would make his jokes. They would be so understated at times that no matter how outrageous the words were, it would still take Obi-Wan a moment to figure out if his Master had been serious or not.

Shaking out of his thoughts, and reminding himself pointedly that Dooku was _nothing_ like Qui-Gon, he just raised an eyebrow in response.

"Alright, perhaps not." Dooku conceded, continuing to sip his tea idly. "The problem with you, Kenobi, is that Sith are often given names best fitting their personality, or at least some aspect of it. And your personality is not suited to the Sith."

"A stunning revelation." Obi-Wan responded.

Dooku gave him a look that was almost a smile. "You're leading me to believe the most fitting name for you would be Darth Sarcasm."

Obi-Wan had to refrain from rolling his eyes. "Yes, and how intimidating that would be."

"Indeed. And you need as intimidating of a name as you can get, as there is very little frightening about you." Dooku remarked, earning another 'very funny' glance from the Jedi. "But for now, your name can wait. As Sidious knows where we are and seemingly believes the sole purpose of our meeting has been accomplished, the more time we spend idly here the more suspicious it will appear. We should return to my ship."

Obi-Wan nodded, as it made sense, all except for one thing. "What about my Aethersprite?"

Dooku put down his tea cup, apparently done with it. "It won't be of much use, therefore there is no need to bring it; program your astromech to pilot it back to the Temple. I'll have one of my Fanblades assigned to you. The Acolytes will simply have to put up with it."

"You mentioned your 'Acolytes' before," Obi-Wan said, frowning slightly. "Who and what are they?"

"They are a small group of force sensitives that I am training." Dooku explained, standing up. "Though they are not Sith, simply darkside force users."

"And so they weren't considered a violation of the Rule of Two." Obi-Wan said, standing as well and waiting for Dooku to lead the way, as he had no idea where the solar sailer was.

"Precisely." Dooku responded, straightening the chairs that had been shoved a bit haphazardly when Sidious had entered.

"And yet Sidious doesn't appear too concerned with breaking that rule." Obi-Wan continued, crossing his arms as he watched Dooku. "Which seems odd." He refrained from adding any suspicions about Dooku's motives just yet.

The Count regarded him, finished with the chairs. "I don't pretend to understand exactly how Sidious thinks, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan just nodded, deciding to accept that answer for the moment and not push it. He was going to have to exercise patience a great deal in this assignment, he could tell. "So," He said, changing the subject. "Where is your ship?"

"Not far. Follow me." Dooku responded, beginning to lead the way from the cafe. As they stepped out, Obi-Wan didn't bother giving it a last glance. He never wanted to see that little cafe or it's silly pink tables ever again.

* * *

"Anakin, you've been called here because something has come up in Obi-Wan's mission, and he has requested that you be informed." Mace Windu explained, focused on the Padawan standing in the middle of the Council Room. Anakin didn't look pleased, though what exactly it was that was bothering him wasn't apparent. Mace certainly didn't think he would be any _more_ pleased once he heard the news, either. 

"What is it?" Anakin asked, tone more or less respectful though it was obvious he was having to work at it and really just wanted Mace to get to the point already. Anakin was never one for patience.

"Obi-Wan met with Dooku, as planned, and they actually did come to an agreement." Mace began, leaning forward slightly in his chair.

"Really?" Anakin responded, disbelief clear on his face.

"Yes, Anakin." Mace confirmed patiently. "But apparently, Darth Sidious does indeed exist and either followed Dooku or found out about the meeting some other way, and walked in on the meeting. Somehow, Dooku and Obi-Wan came up with the idea of pretending that Obi-Wan was interested in joining the Sith, rather than being in diplomatic talks. It worked, and so at the moment, Obi-Wan is officially Dooku's Sith apprentice."

Anakin just stared at Mace, then one at a time at the other members of the Council, as if he wasn't sure if they were playing a joke on him or not. As he saw they all looked quite serious, he turned back towards Mace. "...So the Master of the Sith just believed them, just like that? Obi-Wan told me Dooku was a terrible actor, and I wouldn't say Obi-Wan is much of a better one." He finally said, an eyebrow raised slightly.

"You're not the only one surprised, Anakin, but apparently yes." Mace told him. "And because it worked, we have an opportunity to get continuing inside information on the Confederacy and the Sith."

"Wait," Anakin said, lifting a hand in the usual gesture to accompany his words. "You're telling me you're going to go _along_ with this? Do you really think Obi-Wan is going to be able to fool everyone into thinking he's a Sith for an extended period of time?"

Mace regarded the Padawan seriously. "Obi-Wan is quite capable if practically anything he's assigned. We wouldn't have told him to maintain the ruse if we didn't believe he would be able to."

"But..." Anakin continued to protest, frowning darkly. "It's quite possibly the most dangerous thing you could ever have anyone do. And it could easily be all for nothing! Why would you take this risk?"

Mace's eyebrows raised slightly, but otherwise his expression didn't change. "Anakin, of all people you are the one I would least expect to not understand the reasons for taking a risk."

Anakin didn't respond, shifting uncomfortably and turning his scowl towards the floor. "I'm just worried." He finally admitted, muttering almost too quietly to be heard.

"We know, Anakin." Mace responded, his tone surprisingly gentle. "But he is a Jedi, and so are you. Danger and uncertainty come with that. You know this."

Anakin nodded, still glaring a hole through the floor. As he didn't answer, Mace continued. "While Obi-Wan is pretending to be Darth _Something_, you'll be reassigned to Master Ki-Adi-Mundi temporarily. He'll be returning to Coruscant soon, and until then, you're to remain here on Coruscant. You are not, under any circumstances, to go seeking out Obi-Wan, Dooku, or the Sith in general. The situation is precarious as it is, and your presence will only make it more so. Additionally, you are not to tell _anyone_ of any of this. Understand?"

Anakin scowled a bit more but nodded again.

Mace eyed him suspiciously, then just sighed. "You're dismissed, Anakin."

Without another word, Anakin bowed and swept from the Council Room, cloak billowing behind him.

Mace sighed again, looking around at the other Council members. "I hope he decides to take this as the one time to obey an order." He commented.

The rather unoptimistic expressions of the Council members didn't give him much confidence that would be the case.

* * *

Obi-Wan couldn't help but admire the solar sailer as they approached it. Though the sail itself wasn't deployed, and therefore not visible, the main body of the ship was an interesting design all on it's own. In contrast to the more blocky and mechanical looking ships of the Republic, the Geonosian ship was sleek and rounded and almost insect-like. The entryway ramp lowered as they approached, and Obi-Wan followed Dooku into the ship. 

He glanced around in the globe-like area that was the cockpit, noting the two chairs and the widespread controls. "How convenient; that your ship is made for two people. How do you usually fly it?" He asked, still looking over the control panel.

"Normally, I have a droid to do the flying for me." Dooku answered, taking a seat in the pilot's chair and beginning to press a few buttons, the ramp retracting back into the ship as he did so.

"Then why isn't it here?" Obi-Wan asked, taking the co-pilot's seat and watching Dooku start the flight commands.

"Perhaps I was wrong and Darth Cynicism would be most appropriate for you. It was malfunctioning. I can pilot the ship alone, and so I did." Dooku explained with a great air of patience.

"Fine." Again, Obi-Wan decided not to push it and just filed it away in his mind. He was beginning to wonder if he was just being paranoid; surely if Dooku had some ulterior motive, he would have done a better job disguising the inconsistencies in his story, wouldn't he? Obi-Wan hoped so, or otherwise it was quite possible he'd have more to fear from Dooku's bad planning than from Darth Sidious.

The ship powered to life and took off, quickly clearing the atmosphere of the planet. As Dooku began to set hyperspace coordinates, Obi-Wan looked over at him. "Where exactly are we going?"

"Raxus Prime." Dooku answered, finishing the programing. "That's where my fortress is."

"Of course, you would select a planet that's semi-toxic."

"It's effective in deterring unwanted visitors."

"I imagine."

The solar sailer made the jump to hyperspace, and Dooku stood up. Obi-Wan looked up at him, slightly puzzled. "Where are you going?"

"To the cargo bay. I've converted it into a library." Dooku answered, beginning towards the back. As ships needed little tending to while travelling through hyperspace, Obi-Wan decided to follow him to see that, indeed, there was a small library of datapads built into the storage room. There was even a tiny table and chair.

"Quaint." Obi-Wan commented.

"Isn't it?" Dooku responded, beginning to pull a few datapads off a shelf and making a small pile on the table.

Obi-Wan watched the Sith with slight curiosity, before picking up one of the gathered datapads to see what it was about. Turning it on, he scrolled through the data, seeing it was mostly in a language he couldn't read with only a scattering of text in Basic. Frowning at the slightly familiar characters that he was certain he'd seen before, he then turned the datapad off and returned it to the stack.

"It's written in the Sith language." Dooku answered the unspoken question, picking up a different datapad and sitting down in the little chair. "Which you'll want to learn some of soon. Fortunately, Sith apprentices aren't expected to know everything immediately."

Obi-Wan nodded, crossing his arms idly. "That reminds me, what do you call a Sith apprentice? Do they have a title such as 'Padawan'?"

"Usually, they're simply called Sith apprentices. Officially, they're known as Shadow Hands." Dooku said, turning on his datapad and beginning to read.

"How dramatic." Obi-Wan responded, picking up another datapad to try only to find it was written in Sith as well. "What are you looking for?"

"An idea for your Sith name." Dooku answered, sparing a glance from his datapad to look up at Obi-Wan. "We should make a concerted effort to choose one before we reach my fortress. Otherwise, I'll have to introduce you as Darth Nameless, and the Acolytes will make fun of you."

"Oh no." Obi-Wan said, with only the faintest hint of sarcasm coloring his otherwise dull tone. "I'm not certain my self-esteem could take such a thing."

Dooku looked up from his datapad again, his expression almost amused. "You're at least going to be more interesting to spend time with than my Acolytes." He commented, half to himself.

"Oh?" Obi-Wan said, choosing datapads at random to see if any were in Basic. "I'm not certain whether that is a compliment or not."

"Well, it isn't difficult to be more interesting than my Acolytes." Dooku admitted, earning a quirked eyebrow in response from Obi-Wan.

"I'm beginning to think you planned this entire thing simply so you'd have a friend." The Jedi said jokingly, as close to lighthearted as he'd managed since landing on the planet to meet Dooku. He wasn't about to trust the Sith just yet, or quite possibly ever, but he was beginning to feel more at ease around him. At the very least, he was confident Dooku was no immediate enemy.

Dooku cast another faintly amused look at him before returning to his datapad.

Obi-Wan gave up on his own datapads, finding that the only one of them not written in Sith was simply in an entirely different and equally unreadable language. He crossed his arms again and contemplated beginning to look through the datapads still on the shelves.

"It will be hours before we arrive on Raxus Prime." Dooku said, not looking up from his datapad as he spoke. "There is a third room on the ship that you can use if you wish to meditate. I'll alert you before we land if you haven't already returned."

Obi-Wan considered that a moment before nodding slightly in appreciation, easily finding the door to the room Dooku mentioned and palming it open. The room behind it was small but pleasant, and most importantly it was quiet and devoid of any Sith. Save himself, of course.

Obi-Wan shook his head at that thought and sat down on the carpeted floor, crossing his legs. Yes, meditation was a definitely a good idea. Perhaps everything would be a bit clearer afterwards.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:** Weeeeell, obviously I didn't update very quickly. Sorry about that. DX Writer's Block is horrible! I'd written a ton of scenes for this chapter, but couldn't for the life of me actually connect them together. But I finally managed, and so we have a chapter.

This chapter's more serious than I usually attempt, so I hope it's not terrible. XD And thanks to everyone reading and/or reviewing!

* * *

**Deceptions**  
Chapter 3  
by: Amrita Glittersong

A few hours later Obi-Wan returned to databook library, feeling slightly better and refocused on his mission. Dooku was where he had seen him last, pouring over datapads at the table and Obi-Wan noticed a few more had joined the stack since he'd been gone.

Dooku looked up at him briefly as he entered before returning his attention to his datapad. "Hello, Obi-Wan."

"Hello." Obi-Wan responded, slightly amused by the casual oddness of such an exchange as he took a few steps over to the table.

"You are proving incredibly difficult to find a name for." Dooku informed him, almost sighing.

"I can't say I am surprised. Are there any candidates at all?" Obi-Wan asked, not particularly concerned about what his name ended up being. It wasn't going to mean much to him anyway, as he only saw it as a tool rather than the heavily symbolic thing it was for a true Sith.

"Yes." Dooku said, nodding. "Talionis. It means 'retribution'. Fitting, I think."

Obi-Wan nodded as well, considering that. It wasn't Darth Sarcasm, Darth Cynicism, Darth Unimaginative, Darth Nobody, or Darth Hey-Look-I'm-Actually-A-Jedi, so Obi-Wan saw no real objection to it. Except for one thing.

"It sounds like 'Talon'." Obi-Wan pointed out. "And that's a terrible name."

The Count didn't miss a beat. "Obi-Wan, think of the Sith you have known and read about. They all have terrible names." He said calmly, as if explaining something obvious.

"...I suppose you're right." Obi-Wan conceded after a moment. "It could be far worse."

Dooku nodded in agreement. "And it has the same first letter as my Sith name." He added, almost as an afterthought.

"Does that matter?"

"No, not in the slightest."

Obi-Wan just shook his head in response. "Alright, it's decided, then, I suppose. At least that is done with."

"Yes." Dooku agreed. He stood and gathered a few datapads, beginning to replace them on their shelf, when there was a gentle alert chime from the front of the ship. "And I see we have good timing; that is the signal that we will be returning to real space shortly. The ship can make the transition on it's own without piloting from us, so there is no need to do anything about it."

Obi-Wan nodded, though he made his way to the front of the ship anyway. He'd never been to Raxus Prime before, and wanted to see the planet from space before they landed.

As it turned out, Raxus Prime looked very much like what would be exected from a toxic planet; cloudy and yellowish, and all-together uninviting looking. As the very unlikely Sith duo piloted the ship to the surface, it seemed that the entire planet was covered in the thick yellow haze. Dooku's fortress wasn't hard to notice, as it was very large and placed prominently high up on the side of a mountain, out of the worst of the air that settled to the surface of the planet.

They landed the solar sailer in a small hanger bay at the side of the fortress and stepped out, Dooku leading the way to a heavy metal door which he opened with the Force. That earned a raised eyebrow from Obi-Wan. "Is there no button?"

"There is, but that's not especially interesting." Dooku responded, as they went through the door.

Obi-Wan looked oddly at him. "I never thought I would say it, but you sound like Anakin."

"Is that so?" Dooku asked, sounded decidedly unhappy with the thought.

"Yes." Obi-Wan responded, frowning slightly at the tone but otherwise ignoring it. "He has a tendency to use the Force for anything and everything, even when it has a simpler solution. Such as you just did with the door."

Dooku didn't reply, seemingly considering that as he led the way down a long, dimly lit hallway. For a good time, the only sound came from boot heels clicking on the polished floors as they walked through the seemingly endless hallway, until they finally reached a large and overly impressive looking room.

"This is my study." Dooku said as they entered, gesturing at the room. It was expansive and mostly circular in shape, with high ceilings and polished grey-stone floors. A large desk was set in the center of the room with a matching chair, and the walls were lined with shelves that held datapads, holobooks, holocrons, artifacts, and various other things. The room was lit with an elegant chandelier.

Obi-Wan nodded slightly, starting to wander the room and looking around at everything as Dooku went for his desk to check the Holonet. Seemingly seeing nothing of importance, Dooku returned his attention towards Obi-Wan. "There are some things we need to do before you meet the Acolytes." He commented.

Obi-Wan looked back over at him from where he was examining some starship replicas. "Such as?"

"For the first thing, Sith don't wear cream." Dooku said, looking disapprovingly at Obi-Wan's light colored Jedi clothing. "Or white, for that matter. You'll have to borrow from one of my Acolytes, Skorr, until I can order something for you. He's slightly taller than you, but it will do for now."

Obi-Wan sighed, shaking his head and looking back at the models. "Borrowing clothing from an Acolyte. That is certainly going to help my reputation as a dark, dangerous Sith apprentice."

Dooku looked amused. "They won't bother you, Obi-Wan." He assured him. "Though that does lead to the next thing I needed to mention."

"Oh? And what would that be?" Obi-Wan asked, sounding only mildly interested as he was going over the schematics he'd found for a ship called a 'Fanblade', no doubt the same type of ship Dooku had mentioned earlier.

"Tone down the Jedi serenity." Dooku said seriously. "Sith apprentices, especially young Sith apprentices, are usually the very opposite of serene. Scowl at people, especially the Acolytes, and allow some emotion into your voice. I know you're capable of it; you had quite the venom for me on Geonosis. Remember that a Sith allows their emotions to guide them, rather than controlling them as a Jedi does."

"Dooku, I had no intention of embracing the philosophies of the Sith." Obi-Wan responded, pulling his focus away from the schematics and turning slightly to look at him.

"Act, then." Dooku responded. "Play the part, even if you don't live it."

Obi-Wan frowned slightly. It was dangerous for a Jedi to flirt with the dark side, no matter the reason, and he was very hesitant to even act like he was. However, Dooku was right; it was necessary, and their cover story was shaky enough without it being obvious Obi-Wan was still very much a Jedi in every aspect. As long as it was all an act, and he controlled himself the entire time, he decided it would be acceptable. "...Alright. But that is the most you can expect, Dooku."

"Don't worry, Obi-Wan." Dooku said, raising his hands slightly in a calming gesture. "I understand. I have Acolytes for anything that requires more than acting, after all."

"I'll pretend I don't know what other things you're speaking of." Obi-Wan responded, picking up the model Fanblade that had been sitting next to the schematics he'd found and bringing both over to Dooku. "Is this the ship you had mentioned before?"

Dooku nodded, taking the model ship. "Yes; there are six of them, I can have one given to you. One of my Acolytes has them, but she doesn't need all six. I assume you can fly it?"

Obi-Wan nodded also, looking at the schematics again. "Yes. It doesn't seem too complicated."

"I remember Qui-Gon told me you were an excellent pilot; one of the finest in the Order, even as a Padawan." Dooku commented, turning the Fanblade model over in his hands.

Obi-Wan raised his eyebrows slightly. He'd known Qui-Gon had still spoken to Dooku on occasion, right up until his death, but hadn't ever thought _he_ had been the topic of any of their conversations. "Oh?" He finally said. "Did he?"

Dooku regarded him inquisitively. "You seem surprised. He spoke often of you."

Obi-Wan wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that, so he just nodded minimally and turned his eyes back to the schematics.

Dooku looked at him for a few more moments, before shaking his head slightly and changing the subject. "I'm going to gather some clothing for you from Skorr. Stay here; the Acolytes aren't allowed into this room without authorization, so you won't have any encounters with them."

Obi-Wan nodded again, looking back up as Dooku strode from the room. He watched him leave, before turning off the datapad with the Fanblade's information and returning it to the shelf it came from. He went back over to Dooku's desk, locating his comm system and turning it on.

Taking note of the encoding frequency Dooku was using, he changed it to a Jedi code and attempted to make contact with the Temple. To his surprise, it went through and he was rewarded with a tiny hologram of the Council.

"Obi-Wan." Mace said, eyebrows raised in surprise. "It is good to see you. I take it things are going well."

"Well enough, at least." Obi-Wan responded. "Dooku left the room to gather some things, and so I thought this would be a good time to contact the Council."

"Indeed." Mace agreed. "Where are you?"

"Raxus Prime." Obi-Wan responded, casting a glance towards the door and reaching out into the Force to make sure Dooku wasn't returning yet. He sensed a dark presence but it was unfamiliar--probably an Acolyte--and not near enough to be concerned about, so he returned his attention towards the Council. "However, it appears that there is little here; this seems to be more of a staging area for Dooku and his Acolytes than somewhere a droid army is being centered."

"Discover where the armies _are_, you must. Inform you, Dooku should, if true to wanting to leave the Sith, he is." Yoda said, gesturing with his gimer stick as he spoke.

Obi-Wan nodded slightly. "I believe he will, though not right away; it would be too suspicious to Sidious if the Jedi Council suddenly begins to receive information right after Dooku took me as an apprentice."

Yoda nodded thoughtfully. "True, that is. Seen Sidious again, have you?"

"No, not since I last spoke with you." Obi-Wan said, shaking his head. "From the way Dooku's acting, I don't believe Sidious comes to Raxus Prime much, if at all. Dooku seemed unconcerned with hiding anything here."

"That's good." Mace said. "It would be much harder to go about your mission with him hovering around constantly."

Obi-Wan nodded again in agreement, glancing towards the door again before looking back at Mace seriously. "Have you spoken with Anakin?"

"Yes." Mace responded, nodding once. "He is not pleased, as I'm sure you're not surprised to hear. However, he has agreed not to follow you, and to keep the secret of what is going on."

"That's good." Obi-Wan said, sighing slightly. He was about to say something else when he became aware of the now almost familiar presence of Dooku, not quite back to the office yet but approaching quickly. "Dooku's returning. I need to cut the transmission and return the settings to what they were. I will speak with you again when I can." Obi-Wan told the Council shortly, not waiting for a response before ending the call and reverting the codes hastily. He'd just made it back to the shelves and picked up another datapad when Dooku reentered the room.

The Sith gave Obi-Wan a look and Obi-Wan looked back, and they stared comically at each other for a moment while Obi-Wan wondered if Dooku had noticed he'd been up to something. Dooku, however, seemed to find everything in order and walked over to him, holding out a bundle of black clothing.

Obi-Wan placed his datapad back on the shelf and took the offered bundle, frowning slightly as he unfolded it. He raised an eyebrow at the clothing, seeing it was decorated with synth-leather and, in Obi-Wan's opinion, rather gaudy.

"I am not wearing this, and I question Skorr's sense of fashion." He declared, holding up the clothing and eyeing it disdainfully.

Dooku actually laughed. "Don't be difficult, Obi-Wan. Remove the... Embellishments, and it's simply a black tunic and black pants. This is only temporary, after all, but if I introduce you to them while you're still dressed as a Jedi, it will look as though we came up with this entire idea on the spot."

"I wonder why." Obi-Wan commented, beginning to peel off the decorative syth-leather that adorned the tunic. "I suppose this will do once I remove all of this." He eventually conceded, looking up at Dooku.

"Good." Dooku said with a nod. "What would you like for your Sith clothing to look like?"

"What options are there?" Obi-Wan asked, not really knowing anything about clothing other than that Jedi robes were practical and that Senators wore some of the oddest things he'd ever seen, some of which he wasn't sure were actually intended as clothing.

"Anything." Dooku said. "Sith customize their own clothes, and so do my Acolytes. Clothing for Sith and Dark Jedi is very individualized and usually made directly to the wearers' specifications."

"I would have never expected there to be some odd connection between the dark side and fashion design." Obi-Wan commented.

"Not just fashion design." Dooku responded, seemingly unfazed by the connection. "Which reminds me, do you have any preferences for your room?"

"Dooku, I am a Jedi. I have little interest in interior decorating." Obi-Wan responded, finally managing to get the majority of the synth-leather off the tunic and beginning on the pants. "Anything will do, as long as it's not all black and red."

"You're not going to make a good Sith if you can't stand black and red." Dooku said, sounding amused. "They're rather standard Sith colors."

"I know." Obi-Wan responded. "But I don't intend to let anyone into my room, so it shouldn't matter what colors it is."

"Alright, I suppose not." Dooku conceded, watching Obi-Wan pick at the synth-leather. "Blues, browns, and creams, then?"

Obi-Wan looked up and shrugged slightly, returning to what he was doing. "That'll do." He said; he didn't really care, as long as the color scheme didn't remind him constantly of the Sith on Naboo. He paused on de-decorating the fabric in his hands, and looked up at Dooku again. "Dooku," He said suddenly, "Do you know the name of the Sith Apprentice before you?"

"The one you killed?" Dooku asked, and when he got a nod from Obi-Wan, nodded as well. "Yes. Darth Maul."

Obi-Wan considered that a moment before returning to what he was doing. He'd never known the name of the Sith from Naboo, and it had seemed strange to be missing such a vital piece of information about such a monumental time in his life.

They were both quiet for a minute or so, until Dooku broke the silence with a quiet question. "What happened?"

Obi-Wan drew his attention from the last of the synth-leather, looking at Dooku again in surprise. "What?" He asked, unable to keep the confusion from his voice.

"With Maul." Dooku clarified. He hesitated a moment. "...And with Qui-Gon."

Obi-Wan gave him a dark look, narrowing his eyes slightly. "I'm sure you were informed. It was no secret."

"I have heard the Council's recounting." Dooku agreed, his tone gentle and placating as he could tell Obi-Wan was not pleased with the topic. "I don't trust it to have been accurate, considering their part in... The mistakes made."

"I won't discuss this with you." Obi-Wan told him flatly. "And I won't be convinced you honestly care, either."

Dooku looked at him, frowning slightly. "Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon was my Padawan. I did care for him, and for what happened to him."

"Joining the Sith was a poor way to show that." Obi-Wan responded tonelessly.

"I suppose it was." Dooku agreed, sighing quietly. He stepped over to the Jedi, reaching out to place his hands on Obi-Wan's shoulders, and was surprised when the Knight didn't immediately move away. "It was a mistake, and one I intend to remedy. You're going to have to trust me."

Obi-Wan did step away then, staring up at him, his expression serious. "And you're going to have to convince me that I should."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN**: See? I actually meant it this time when I said I'd update faster. :P Now, a few notes to get out of the way...

First, please forgive me for getting carried away with the Sith costume. I like fashion design (which is apparently of the darkside. ;P) so I had a bit too much fun. And, at the behest of a reviewer (you'll know who you are!) I made a small modification to the original idea of the costume, color-wise, as the suggestion was better than the color I'd originally chosen. ;)

Secondly, this chapter was more set-up... But we get to move beyond set up, finally, next chapter, and into my second favorite thing to write, explosions! Er, I mean, action. But really, can you have good action without explosions? I think not.

Thirdly, I forgot to mention last time that I did read Dark Rendezvous, which I still can't spell. :P It _was_ really good; you were all right. :)

Lastly, I had some fun with photo-maniping and have now added a cover for the fic to my profile page. :)  
--------------------------------

**Deceptions**  
Chapter 4  
by: Amrita Glittersong

A short time later, Obi-Wan was preparing to meet the Acolytes. After finally getting Skorr's clothing to an acceptable standard, he was now dressed in black and lamenting it mentally. It didn't help that Dooku had told him black suited him better than cream.

Dooku had also put in some orders to his staff to set up a room for Obi-Wan, and to get to work on getting him some better Sith clothing. Obi-Wan had told him he didn't care what it looked like, as long as it wasn't overly decorative, and was wondering now if he should have been more specific. He figured that he could simply reject it if he didn't like it, though, so he wasn't especially worried.

Dooku had also not mentioned the subject of Qui-Gon again after their discussion, something Obi-Wan was thankful for, and so they'd returned to their uneasy comaraderie. The Count had decided, however, that Obi-Wan needed some Sith lessons before he met the Acolytes.

"Act important. Draw attention to yourself. Do exactly the opposite of what you usually do." Dooku instructed, earning a vaguely amused look from his apprentice.

"It sounds as though what I need to do is simply act self-centered." Obi-Wan told him, rolling one of the too-long sleeves of his borrowed tunic up a few times. He raised an eyebrow. "If that is so, I feel very underwhelmed by the secret of how to act like a Sith."

"You expected more?" Dooku asked blandly.

"Not particularly, now that I think about it." Obi-Wan admitted, working on the second sleeve. He gestured at it, looking at Dooku. "Is it going to be obvious this was impromptu?"

"Skorr will be the only one to notice, and he is more discreet and discerning than most of the others Acolytes." Dooku answered. "He won't comment, at least not in front of them. Though he may eventually complain that you mutilated the clothing by removing the synth-leather."

Obi-Wan sighed, shaking his head slightly. "He'll simply have to accept it."

"Now you're talking like a Sith."

"I cannot find words to express my elation at that."

Dooku looked amused. "Well, you should maintain it for now, at least, Darth Sarcasm. Speaking like a Sith, I mean, though the sarcasm is fine as well." He regarded the Knight a moment, seemingly about to say something, then just shook his head. "Alright, let's introduce you to the Acolytes. There are only four on planet right now; the others are on various assignments, but they will return shortly and I will introduce you to them when they do." Dooku said, leading the way out of the office and down the hall.

Obi-Wan nodded, following after him. "Alright. How many do you have in total?"

"Right now, there are twelve of them." Dooku said. "There used to be fifteen, but three recently met... Untimely ends."

"Unfortunate." Obi-Wan responded, too dryly for Dooku to tell if he was being serious or not.

They soon reached the room where four people waited, all of which being human or near-human. There were two men and two women, and all four turned towards Dooku and Obi-Wan as they approached.

"Acolytes." Dooku began, and they all nodded in greeting before he continued. "Meet my new apprentice, Darth Talionis." He gestured gracefully at Obi-Wan. "I trust you will all treat him with the same respect as you do me, for multiple reasons."

The Acolytes nodded again, regarding Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan looked evenly back at them.

"This is Asajj Ventress." The Sith said, motioning towards a woman about Obi-Wan's height. She was pale with blue eyes, bald and dressed in a leather outfit with a flowing skirt. She reminded Obi-Wan distinctly of a snake, clever and more dangerous than she looked, and as she locked eyes with him he could tell she was not pleased with the turn of events. Obi-Wan had a suspicion she had probably been vying for the position of Dooku's apprentice, and didn't appreciate being denied it. He also realized that she had been the presence he'd sensed earlier while speaking to the Council.

"Tol Skorr." Dooku introduced the man standing beside Ventress. Skorr was slightly taller than Obi-Wan and Ventress, broad-shouldered with long, dark honey colored hair and green eyes. He was slightly familiar to Obi-Wan, though he couldn't place why, and he was wearing black adorned with synth-leather and few pieces of black armour that protected his chest and shoulders. He looked less displeased than Ventress did, though certainly not happy.

"Sev'rance Tann." The next Acolyte was an exotic-looking near-human woman, about Skorr's height. Her skin was a pale blue, with dark blue hair and glowing red eyes, and she was dressed in a very official looking black uniform. In contrast to Ventress and Skorr she seemed entirely indifferent to Obi-Wan, giving him only a passing look before returning her focus to Dooku.

"Artel Darc." The last of the four was a human man, slightly shorter than Obi-Wan, with pale blond hair and brown eyes. His clothing was casual and wouldn't be out of place in any major city of most planets. He looked as though he had quite a few things he'd rather be doing at that moment, but didn't dare say so.

Introductions finished, Obi-Wan nodded curtly at them, and they all nodded back. Sev'rance, her greeting over with, turned her attention towards Dooku. "Is this all I was needed for, Master? I have some strategies I must finalize."

"Yes, that was all. You are dismissed, Tann." Dooku said, and the woman nodded respectfully at both he and Obi-Wan again before striding from the room.

"Master Dooku," Darc began, apparently emboldened by Sev'rance's approved request and Dooku's seemingly better than usual mood. "If you are busy, it can wait, though I have some contracts that need your approval. They're for the new droids."

Dooku nodded, looking over at Obi-Wan. "I'm going to deal with these. Do whatever you like until I return." He told him, getting a nod in response before the Sith turned back towards Darc and followed him down the hall. That left Obi-Wan, Skorr, and Ventress together.

"So." Ventress said, looking Obi-Wan up and down before meeting his eyes. "How did someone like _you_ end up as Master Dooku's apprentice?"

Obi-Wan was tempted to just give her a flat look and ignore her, but that didn't seem particularly Sithly. So, with a great effort, he gave a small smirk and raised an eyebrow, tilting his head slightly. "What do you mean?"

Ventress matched his smirk, though Obi-Wan had a feeling it looked far more natural on her than it did on him. "You know what I mean. You were a Jedi."

"So was Dooku." Obi-Wan responded evenly.

"Not like you." Ventress responded. "Your name is Obi-Wan, isn't it? Master Dooku has spoken of you before. Aren't you supposed to be the shining example of a perfect Jedi?"

"Apparently not." Obi-Wan told her, slightly surprised that Dooku had talked about him to his Acolytes before. He made a mental note to ask Dooku what it had been about; he didn't want to go against whatever he'd told them if it would be better to do otherwise.

"Hm." Ventress responded, sounding unconvinced. "Aren't you also the only living Jedi to have killed a Sith?"

"Yes." Obi-Wan responded truthfully, as there was no real good in pretending otherwise if she already knew. "Though I would argue that only makes me a better Sith, not a worse one."

To his surprise, Ventress laughed. It was a cold sound, but seemed genuine. "Perhaps." She conceded, but then she was all menace again. "I hope that, for your sake, it wasn't a fluke. Otherwise, you may find yourself _replaced_."

Obi-Wan just raised his eyebrow further. "Is that so." He said in a flatly amused tone that made it a statement rather than a question.

Ventress smiled icily. "Confidence will only get you so far; false bravado even less."

"I'll keep that in mind." Obi-Wan responded, now carefully giving his voice a tone of utter boredom with the conversation. "And I suggest you do the same."

Ventress gave him a last look before she turned and swept down the corridor, her leather skirts brushing across the floor. Skorr, who had been silent the entire time, waited until she was out of sight before turning his attention towards Obi-Wan.

"Do you hate synth-leather or something?"

Obi-Wan looked at him and raised an eyebrow again, this time in amusement. "I am less than fond of it." He admitted, before looking more seriously at the Acolyte. "You seem familiar." Obi-Wan told him. "Would you know why?"

"You don't remember me, do you?" Skorr responded, confirming Obi-Wan's feelings of familiarity. "I guess the age difference is just enough that you wouldn't; we didn't talk to each other, after all. I was a Jedi Knight, before I joined Dooku, just as you were."

Obi-Wan's eyebrows raised slightly. "Oh?"

"Yes." Skorr responded. He gave Obi-Wan a slightly incredulous look. "And though you don't remember me, I remember _you_. And I find it surprising you would ever be a Sith, just as Ventress does."

Obi-Wan's expression didn't change as he quickly considered the best Sithly thing to say in response to that. "And why are you telling me this? It isn't because I care about your opinion, certainly. I have no reason to prove myself to you, and don't feel like doing so."

Skorr gave him a smirk, but nodded. "Of course not." He agreed, tone only slightly flippant, before he turned and left the room in the same direction Ventress had gone. Obi-Wan waited until he was out of sight, shaking his head once before turning down the hallway that would lead to his own room.

He found it easily enough; Dooku had pointed it out on a map to him earlier, and that fact that it was a only a few doors from Dooku's office made it even easier to locate. He pressed his hand against the door scan, which blinked a few times and turned green, opening the door for him.

He stepped inside and glanced around, seeing the room was actually quite nice. The floor was the same grey polished stone of the rest of the fortress, as were the walls and ceiling, and the room was a little larger than his room at the Temple. There was a sleep-couch to one side of the room that was covered in sandy brown sheets, and a desk and chair of the same color were against another wall.

On the desk, Obi-Wan noticed the Fanblade model as well as the schematics for it, a map of the fortress and surrounding area, and a stack of datapads. As he readjusted the stack that had fallen over slightly, he noticed the comm system that was built into his desk, just like one Dooku had. There was also a note laid over the control panel.

_'So you needn't hijack mine again._

_Dooku'_

Obi-Wan winced slightly; apparently he'd been less discreet than he'd thought, though if he'd learned to accurately assess Dooku's words and comments, the Sith was amused rather than annoyed.

He considered calling the Council again, but there was very little to report since he'd spoken to them a few hours earlier so he decided to wait. Glancing around again, he picked up a datapad and turned it on, though before he could take a look at the screen he heard a chime from his door to alert him that someone was requesting entrance. A quick scan with the Force revealed it was Dooku outside, and he allowed him in.

"How do you like your room?" Dooku asked after he'd entered and taken a seat in the desk's chair, regarding the Knight.

"It is better than I expected." Obi-Wan admitted. "And I see no black or red."

Dooku gave him a look of amusement in response. "And how are you getting along with the Acolytes?"

"Well enough, though I must admit that they're not taking me particularly seriously." Obi-Wan said honestly, returning his attention to the datapad and noting that, thankfully, it was written in basic.

Dooku's response was not helpful. "Kill one of them, then." He suggested, shrugging.

Obi-Wan shifted his gaze to Dooku again and gave him a slight frown, unable to tell if the Sith was serious or not. "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that."

Dooku chuckled. "Good; I don't particularly want to have to replace any of them."

Obi-Wan just shook his head in response, before gesturing at the datapad in his hands. "What are these for?" He asked.

"They're some information on history and teachings of the Sith; basic information you may or may not have learned in your classes at the Temple and your own research. There are also lessons on how to read the Sith language, as well as it's common words. It isn't a difficult language; you'll catch onto it quickly." Dooku explained.

Obi-Wan nodded, so Dooku continued. "I suggest familiarizing yourself with as much of that as possible, as soon as possible. It's accepted that you wouldn't know it right away, but it will be suspicious if you don't remedy that within a short time."

Obi-Wan nodded again. "Alright, I understand. Is there anything pressing and Sith-like that I should be doing, or would this be a good time to read these?"

"Now would be a good time," Dooku said, standing up. "As I have some things I need to attend to. It will take a few hours, but afterwards I will return, and we will discuss what to do next."

"Alright." Obi-Wan agreed. Dooku swept out of the room, and Obi-Wan settled in to study.

* * *

Four hours later, Obi-Wan was holding his arms out, turning slightly and looking critically at his reflection in the mirror. As a Jedi, he never put more than the bare minimum of necessary thought into clothing; he had a preference for cream and white colors, he disliked elaborate or decorative items, and he tended towards heavier tabbards in contrast to lighter ones like Anakin's, but that was about it. Therefore, it was difficult for him to analyze his new Sith clothing. 

In general, it was very similar to his normal attire, consisting of many of the the same pieces; an undertunic, overtunic, pants, tabbards, obi and belt, and boots, with a few minor variations. The majority of the fabric was black rather than cream or white, and the undertunic was a rich midnight blue. His tabbards were wider than usual and slightly embellished at the shoulders with light armour, and the bottoms of the tabbards fell just above his knees. Dooku had said the fabric of the tabbards had been lined with a blast dampening material that would disperse a normally fatal blaster shot into a far less serious injury.

His boots were black, tall and made of protective, durable leather, with lightweight but thick soles. The most unusual part of the ensemble, and the part Obi-Wan was most unsure of, was the lightly armoured cape built into the back of his tabbards that fell to about mid-calf length. It was black, like most of the rest of his outfit, lined in the same midnight blue as his undertunic. He swished it experimentally, finding that the fabric was weighted well and would probably stay out of his way in a battle, but he still wasn't convinced.

"Mostly, this is just fine." Obi-Wan said to Dooku, who was watching from the chair that went with Obi-Wan's desk. The Knight was actually slightly impressed at how well Dooku had done in choosing for him. "The cape is a bit... Superfluous, however. It seems it would get in the way during a fight."

"Fighting is what the Acolytes are for." Dooku responded, watching as Obi-Wan rolled his shoulders slightly to test the weight of the tabbards. "You are here to look impressive. And also, as I doubt any fight you might get into would be against a Jedi, the benefits of the cape's armour will do you more good than harm."

"I suppose." Obi-Wan agreed, smoothing the tabbards and deciding that the clothing would do. He wasn't particularly fond of all the black, but the blue was alright and everything was practical. The light armour would be useful, also, even if there seemed to be a lot of it.

"You know, Dooku, with all of this armour it seems as though you expect me to get myself injured the moment I set foot out of the fortress." Obi-Wan commented lightly, looking over at the Sith.

"Isn't that what you're good at?" Dooku replied. "I believe I remember talk among the Temple healers of naming a wing of the Med Ward after you. The first time we are in a dangerous situation, you'll be shot by a clone trooper. I simply know it."

Obi-Wan gave him a look that clearly said 'very funny', and was about to respond when there was a chime at his door. Dooku was already in the room so Obi-Wan was a bit surprised, not having expected anyone else to come to his door, and reached out with the Force to find that it was Sev'rance Tann.

Obi-Wan let her in, and she stepped quickly into the room. "What is it?" He asked, and sensed Dooku had turned his attention towards the Acolyte as well.

"Masters, we have an emergency." Tann told them, her glowing red eyes making her focused stare even more intent. "A battalion of clones are on planet, on course for the fortress. We're unsure if there are any Jedi with them."

Both Dooku and Obi-Wan blinked in surprise at this information, before Dooku turned slightly to give Obi-Wan a serious look. Obi-Wan looked right back for a few moments, before Dooku again regarded Tann. "Thank you, Tann. Gather Darc, Skorr, and Ventress and we will meet you in the atrium in minutes."

"Yes, master." Tann said, turning and leaving the room as quickly as she'd come.

Dooku looked again at Obi-Wan, and after a moment Obi-Wan finally caught onto _why_ Dooku was staring at him. "I did _not_ tell the Council to send an army here."

"Then why _did_ they, Obi-Wan?" Dooku asked, his voice low and menacing, and for an instant Obi-Wan was actually slightly frightened of him.

"Don't ask me, Dooku. I don't know." The Knight responded, narrowing his eyes and matching the Sith's tone. "But you can be certain I did not tell them to send anyone or anything here."

The two stared tensely at each other for a short time before Dooku finally spoke, voice still cold. "Alright. Follow me, we need to direct the Acolytes. There are only six of us if you and I are counted with them, and a small droid backup army here."

"So this is a fortress only in name." Obi-Wan responded, now a bit wary of Dooku again. He made certain his boots were adjusted properly before leading the way to the door.

"You could say that." Dooku conceded, taking over the lead when they reached the hallway as Obi-Wan hadn't learned where the atrium was yet. "We had no reason to expect an attack here, after all." He added as they walked, the unsettling tone back again.

Obi-Wan stopped walking, and it took only a moment for Dooku to notice the cessation of his boot steps and to turn around to face him. "Dooku." He began, slowly and seriously. "I assure you I did not tell the Council to do this. Why would I? I am not certain what happened, but it was not my doing, and I am just as displeased as you are if not more so." He paused a moment before continuing. "And I will also remind you that I am your apprentice only in title, and I don't appreciate you treating me otherwise. Don't scold me, don't act as though you are above me, and don't attempt to intimidate me."

Dooku gazed at him intently and once again they stared tensely at one another until Dooku, like before, broke the silence. "I apologize, Obi-Wan." He finally said, surprising the Jedi who had full well expected his mission to be over right then and there. "I forget you are not one of my Acolytes, and at times you are so much like Qui-Gon I forget you are not my Padawan, either." At Obi-Wan's somewhat stunned expression, Dooku actually smiled. "Don't look so surprised. Now come on; we have a battle to fight."

After a moment, Obi-Wan gave a sharp nod, and they both continued down the hall to meet with the Acolytes.

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**: Argh, this chapter was more difficult than it should have been, and I'm still not sure about it. It'll probably get a rewrite in the future, therefore, but I've looked the entire thing over and edited it four times already. Most things I write are lucky to be looked over once. :P

So anyway, some action in this chapter, as everyone had been sitting around and talking too much for my tastes. :P Thanks again to everyone reading and/or reviewing! You're all great, and I love reading your comments and speculation. :)  
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**Deceptions**  
Chapter 5  
by Amrita Glittersong

Obi-Wan was not pleased with this turn of events. He'd been trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to deflect shots without harming any of the clones in return, though he knew it would ultimately be useless as one of the Acolytes would eventually show up to dispatch them. The only redeeming part of the entire mess was that this appeared to be a fully clone army; Obi-Wan had neither seen nor felt the presence of any force-users aside from himself, Dooku, and the Acolytes. Even worse than fighting a clone trooper would be having to face a Jedi.

He'd been with Dooku most the fight, somewhat out of harm's way behind the lines of droids and the Acolytes. Darc and Tann appeared to be content standing their ground and reflecting blaster shots back at clones--in fact, Obi-Wan had a suspicion they'd made an unofficial contest out of it--while Skorr and Ventress delved into the middle of everything and left a path of destruction in their wake. The Acolytes worked better together than Obi-Wan had expected; he'd thought they would all be extremely independent in their actions and tactics, but it seemed they actually coordinated well with each other and acted as a team.

Tann was obviously the leader of the four Acolytes, and she directed them when they needed it. She also gave commands to the small droid battalion, and she was apparently quite good at tactics as, though their forces numbered less than the clones, they were still winning. Comparatively speaking, of course, as Obi-Wan didn't feel much like they were winning. In fact, all he felt was a bit sick.

Dooku, Obi-Wan had noticed, was not particularly good at deflecting shots away. The Sith's chosen sabre style, Makashi, was suited for lightsabre to lightsabre fighting and, having been created before blasters were wide-spread, wasn't good at all in regards to blocking bolts from them. Obi-Wan, in contrast, had specialized in protecting himself against blasters and therefore was having no trouble deflecting them away from both himself and Dooku.

"Dooku, you are less than adept at this." Obi-Wan couldn't help but comment, as he quickly extended his arms straight to catch a blast aimed at Dooku on the tip of his sabre.

"Eloquent even when you're being insulting. I'm impressed." Dooku responded, blocking another shot and sending it ricocheting just over Tann's head. She cast a quick annoyed glace back over her shoulder before returning to what she was doing.

"I'm simply stating a fact." Obi-Wan said, spinning his sabre in an intricate pattern in front of him to deflect four rapidly fired bolts.

"Perhaps." Dooku conceded. "Though most of the time I have no need for reflecting blaster fire, as I tend to know of attacks far enough in advance to not have to partake in them."

"Don't start that again." Obi-Wan warned, though the words were actually harsher than his tone; Dooku's comment had been a jibe, not an accusation as it had been earlier. He took a few steps closer to Dooku so he could block another shot without having to throw himself off balance.

"I'm not starting anything." Dooku said, and the tone of innocence was amusing to hear from the distinctly not-innocent Count. Obi-Wan was about to refute that, but a thunderous sound drowned out his voice when an explosion went off, sending droids pieces and a lot of dirt flying but not injuring any of the Acolytes or Sith.

"Hey! Who's blowing things up!?" Ventress' offended comment was rather comical, though the now numerous small explosions were not as much so.

"Ventress! Pay attention!" Skorr shouted, dispatching a clone who had been attempting to use Ventress' distraction to take a shot at her.

"I _am_ paying attention!" Ventress declared, and Obi-Wan looked away before she swiped the head off a nearby clone.

"No, you're not!"

"Be quiet, both of you!" Tann shouted to be heard over the blasterfire, as another explosion detonated close enough to shower her and Darc with bits of metal and rock. "Find out where those are coming from!"

As Ventress and Skorr went to do just that, Dooku directed a question at Obi-Wan. "Can you tell what's causing the explosions?"

"No; though I would surmise grenades or thermal detonators of some sort." Obi-Wan responded, still deflecting shots and trying not to watch Ventress and Skorr make their way violently around the battlefield. "They're standard-issue for many of the clone troopers." Again, he twirled his sabre rapidly to return some shots and knock a stray bit of metal from the air.

"You needn't show off, you know." Dooku commented as he watched, though he sounded amused rather than annoyed.

"I am not showing off, Dooku." Obi-Wan responded with an air of great patientience. "And in fact, I am hurt that you would insinuate such a thing."

"I'm sure you are."

Obi-Wan cast a barely perceptible look of amusement and a nod at the Sith. "I am." He confirmed. "In fact-" The Knight cut himself off midway through his sentence as a small spherical object landed at his feet. "...Oh, not good."

The Force prompted him to move before he even had time to think about it, and he threw himself backwards and away from the grenade only moments before it detonated. The shockwave from the weapon knocked him out of what would have been an elegant backflip, instead sending him into an uncontrolled tumble through the air and across the ground before he finally rolled to a stop.

A dazed moment or two later, the Jedi realized he was relatively unharmed and sat up before getting carefully to his feet. He noticed Dooku a short distance away, also sitting up after apparently having been caught in the blast as well.

Obi-Wan stumbled unsteadily a few paces over to the Sith. "Are you alright?" He asked, a bit surprised at himself to find that he was honestly concerned.

"Yes, though _you_ are bleeding." Dooku responded, gesturing at the Jedi's left arm. Obi-Wan glanced at it and saw that Dooku was right; a piece of shrapnel had embedded itself in his forearm. It wasn't a large gash, so Obi-Wan wasn't really bothered. He'd had far worse, after all.

"So I am." He commented blandly, tucking his injured arm against his chest and holding out his other to help Dooku up.

"Of course, you have somehow managed to be hit one of the few places where you're not wearing armour." Dooku said in a tone of long-suffering once he'd gotten to his feet, as though he felt he should have been expecting such a thing. "Let me see."

Obi-Wan sighed and held his injured arm out for inspection, deciding not to get into a battle of stubbornness with Dooku by refusing. "It isn't severe." The Jedi told him. "Once the-Augh!"

"My apologies." Dooku said, tossing the piece of shrapnel to the side and gathering the Force to begin an attempt at healing his apprentice. "What were you saying?"

"...Never mind." Obi-Wan responded with a sigh. Still slightly dazed from the explosion, he glanced around to see what had happened in the battle while he wasn't paying attention and saw Ventress and Skorr still blazing through the small number of remaining clones. Tann was also still reflecting bolts, or had rather _returned_ to reflecting bolts; judging by her messed up hair and the fact that Darc was just getting back to his feet, the two Acolytes had also been knocked down by the grenade. All the Acolytes accounted for, Obi-Wan noticed something that wasn't. "Where's my lightsabre?"

Dooku gave him a look. "Don't tell me Qui-Gon passed that trait to you as well." He commented, before glancing around as well.

"Did he get it from you?" Obi-Wan asked, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Of course not." Dooku said, not particularly convincingly, before changing the subject as he seemingly noticed something. "I told you your cape would be useful." He commented, reaching towards Obi-Wan to pull out a rather large chunk of metal from the armoured fabric and show it to the Knight.

"Fine, Dooku. You were right." Obi-Wan said, with a tone of great patience as he noticed his lightsabre laying on the ground a few meters away and began towards it.

"And I told you that you would be injured the first battle you were in." Dooku added, sounding a bit proud of himself.

Obi-Wan sighed, picking up his lightsabre and beginning to turn towards the Sith as he spoke. "I was _not_ shot by a clone trooper, so it doesn't-"

For the third time in less than ten minutes Obi-Wan was interrupted, as a blaster shot that had somehow been missed by Tann and Darc struck him in the chest. The force of the shot knocked Obi-Wan into Dooku, and the Sith instinctively caught him. Lowering the Knight carefully to the ground, Dooku kneeled next to him as Tann, who had rushed over immediately, reached them to began deflecting the shots from the remaining clones' blaster rifles away. "Don't move while I assess the injury, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan didn't seem to be listening to him, staring blankly upwards, and Dooku was about to try getting his attention again when the Knight finally spoke. "Don't. Say. Anything." He warned, and it took Dooku only one confused beat before he caught what Obi-Wan was talking about.

"Oh, I wasn't planning on it. You know full well what I would have said, so it's unnecessary." Dooku responded calmly, with only a hint of superiority. "Though I am greatly impressed by your ability to curse yourself in such an ironically timely manner." The blast had left a large scorch mark on Obi-Wan's right tabbard, though as Dooku carefully peeled back the tabbard he saw only light singeing to the tunics and, presumably, Obi-Wan. "It looks as though the tabbard caught most of the blast."

"Good, that was what it was designed to do, wasn't it?" Obi-Wan responded, still obviously annoyed, though his clear words allayed any concerns that he was seriously injured.

"Indeed." Dooku agreed. "Though, as I am noticing, your talent for getting yourself injured lets nothing stand in it's way. It's almost comical."

"For you, perhaps." Obi-Wan responded, sounding distinctly unamused as he propped himself up on his elbows.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Dooku." Obi-Wan responded, sitting all the way up. Dooku grabbed his apprentice carefully by the arm, hauling him back up to his feet, and Tann turned back towards them as the last of the clones were finally dispatched by a combination of her and Darc's reflected shots and Skorr and Ventress' lightsabres. "Do I need to call in a healer?"

Obi-Wan shook his head. "No."

"You might call a tailor, though." Dooku remarked from next to him. He looked at the Knight. "A hole in your sleeve, damage to your cape, and burns to both tunics and a tabbard. Do you normally go through clothing this quickly?"

Obi-Wan considered that thoughtfully for a moment. "Actually, yes."

"Better than going through ships at that rate." Tann remarked. "As _some_ people do."

"What was that?" Ventress asked as she, Darc, and Skorr reached the group.

"Nothing."

Dooku shook his head and spoke before the Acolytes could continue to bicker. "Have we destroyed all of the battalion?"

"It appears so." Tann said, and Skorr nodded his agreement.

"Ventress and I didn't see anything else coming."

"And is this all that's left of the droids?" Dooku asked, gesturing at two very feeble looking Super Battle Droids, one of which was missing an arm.

"It looks that way." Ventress confirmed, an eyebrow raised as she watched the droids stumble about. "And it also looks like we might want to put them out of their misery."

"Perhaps later." Dooku agreed. "Right now, I want all of you back into the fortress. Tann, monitor the sensors for any backup waves of clones that might have been sent and see if you can determine where this ones came from. Skorr, make certain the ships are all fueled and prepared, as it may well be necessary for us to change bases of operation. Ventress, Darc, gather everything we would need to leave quickly. Obi-Wan, follow me."

The Acolytes all nodded at once, quickly making their way up the hill back to the fortress. Dooku and Obi-Wan followed along behind them, far enough back that they could talk without being overheard.

"After we bandage your arm, I would like if you would contact the Council and see why they decided to send the clones here." Dooku requested, leaning slightly towards the Knight so he could keep his voice low enough that the Acolytes wouldn't hear.

"I would be more than happy to." Obi-Wan told him, having already been planning to do exactly that. "Perhaps they will have some answers."

* * *

About twenty minutes later, Obi-Wan was recalibrating his comm system and sending a request for a link into the Council Room. He fiddled idly with the wrapping on his injured arm, vaguely amused as he had found out that, for the Sith, even bandages were black. 

Dooku, meanwhile, was doing who knew what. Surprisingly enough to Obi-Wan, the Sith had been almost as fussy as Qui-Gon used to be about tending to Obi-Wan's injuries. It had taken the Jedi quite an effort to convince Dooku that he was perfectly fine, especially as Dooku had been concerned about the Jedi's slight haziness after the grenade had gone off. For some reason, Obi-Wan's assurance of 'it's nothing to be concerned over, this isn't the first time' hadn't seemed to help.

There was a light beep from his comm to alert him that the connection had been accepted, and a moment later the tiny holographic Council was displayed on his desk. He moved a few stray datapads so that they weren't sticking distractingly out of Ki-Adi-Mundi's chest.

"Obi-Wan." Mace greeted, sounding about as pleased as he ever did. "How are things progressing?"

"They could be better." Obi-Wan admitted, frowning slightly. He decided to cut right to the issue. "Masters, why did you send a clone battalion to Raxus Prime?"

The Council just stared at him for a moment before Mace finally broke the silence. "We didn't, Obi-Wan. Why would we order an attack to somewhere we knew you were without warning you?"

Obi-Wan blinked once, a bit surprised; he hadn't thought for a moment that there was a chance someone _else_ had sent the clones. He was not certain he felt better knowing that the Council hadn't been responsible, either. "I don't know, hence why you can understand that I was more than slightly surprised when a battalion showed up on the front steps of the fortress."

"I imagine." Mace said, leaning forward in his seat and steepling his fingers together. "But we did not send them."

"Were there any Jedi with the clones?" Adi Gallia asked, her expression as serious as Mace's.

Obi-Wan shook his head. "No. It was a battalion made up entirely of clones. There were no Jedi, or anyone who was not a clone."

Adi nodded, and Mace spoke again. "I presume the clones are all dead?"

"Unfortunately." Obi-Wan confirmed. "The Acolytes had no reason to spare them."

Mace nodded, not surprised in the slightest. "This is disturbing. The Council did not send the battalion, and if it had no internal commanders such as Jedi or other officers, it is unlikely it could have simply gone rogue or made a mistake. Someone had to have sent it."

Obi-Wan nodded in agreement. "I agree. Though aside from the twelve of you, only myself, Dooku, and the Acolytes know that Raxus Prime is a Separatist base." He paused a moment, as it dawned on him that that wasn't quite true. "Except..."

The Force gave a quick warning before door to his room slid open, allowing Obi-Wan enough time to quickly slam his hand down onto the comm console to shut it off before whoever was entering could see it. He whirled around, reading to unleash a torrent of fake-Sith-but-real-Jedi annoyance on whoever had entered without permission, but stopped as he saw it was Dooku.

"Obi-Wan." Dooku's tone was controlled, but the Jedi could feel the tension radiate from the Sith as he spoke. Knowing he had to have a good reason to be so uneasy and for barging into the room, Obi-Wan stared at Dooku apprehensively, waiting for the rest of his words and certain they had to be something bad. He was not mistaken.

"Sidious is here."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes:** Hurray, finally to chapter six! This chapter gave me fits. Sidious and Asajj refused to behave, so the scenes with them took forever... And quite a bit of the chapter was entirely rewritten. With any luck though, you'll all like this chapter.

Also, there's a bit of A/P at the end. Poor Padme hadn't shown her face in a single fic of mine so far, and so an excuse to add her and fit it with the plot was too good to pass up. I don't usually write romance though, so hopefully it's not too bad. ;P

Like usual, I spell-checked and did a quick look through, but not much else, so if there are any really weird errors that's probably why.

Also, I'll be adding review responses to my profile tomorrow. I'm always too lazy to reply to each review though PM, which I know is very bad of me, but I still wanted to reply some way so they'll be in my profile sometime tomorrow, when I write them. Thanks again to everyone reading and/or reviewing!

* * *

**Deceptions**  
Chapter 6  
by: Amrita Glittersong 

_  
'Not good.'_ Obi-Wan thought as he followed Dooku down the hall, trying to keep up with the much taller Sith. They were rushing through the fortress towards the reception hall, which, when Dooku had told him of their destination, had prompted Obi-Wan to ask _why_ a secret Sith fortress needed a reception hall. Dooku had found the question very amusing and admitted he didn't have an answer.

But now neither of them were speaking, as even their usual dry humor had failed them. Obi-Wan was pointedly reminding himself that a Jedi didn't feel fear, no matter if they were on their way to meet a Sith Master that would probably find out they were a spy and kill them. No reason to be apprehensive about that, after all.

He didn't think Dooku was too pleased with the entire thing either, as if Sidious found out that Obi-Wan was only faking being a Sith, then surely he would realize Dooku was in on it. Then they would both be in a very bad situation, which Obi-Wan had yet to come up with a solution to besides, 'fight him and hope we win.'

The only bit of hope was that Sidious was indeed as dense as he'd acted in the cafe when they'd first met, and didn't see through their lies again. Obi-Wan thought that was unlikely; he wondered if Sidious had just been drunk or something their last meeting.

Reaching out carefully with the Force to see how much farther they had to go, he realized they had almost reached Sidious already; the air felt heavy, and the Force was whispering soft warnings to him that he ignored, albeit with a bit of effort. He was also vaguely amused to realize that all four Acolytes were together in the same room, as far away from the reception hall as they could get. "Your Acolytes are hiding." He commented, breaking the silence.

"They do that." Dooku said without looking back, in a tone that was an odd mix of amusement and resigned dismay. "At least it keeps them from doing anything foolish in front of him. Ventress is the only one brazen enough to speak to him directly, though I suppose her nerve has failed her today."

"Can my nerve fail me as well?" Obi-Wan asked, earning a glance back from Dooku, who seemed amused.

"My apologies, Obi-Wan, but you're going to have to be brave." The Sith responded. "And then you may lord it over the Acolytes."

"And that will make it worth it." Obi-Wan said, quite obviously believing the exact opposite. "Dooku, is there anything I should know before we get ourselves killed?"

"You're so optimistic." Dooku commented, stopping walking and turning back towards his apprentice. "However, yes. First and most importantly, try not to be sarcastic."

Obi-Wan raised his eyebrows. "Why would I ever be sarcastic?" He asked, his tone perfectly sincere.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Dooku said, playing along and shrugging elegantly before continuing. "In addition to quelling the sarcasm and biting comments for a short time, you might do well to simply not say anything if you can help it. Certainly don't talk unless he speaks to you directly."

"I wasn't planning on making small talk." Obi-Wan responded, crossing his arms and wishing for a moment he had his Jedi robes, so he could stick his hands in the sleeves.

Dooku nodded in response, not really listening as he was apparently thinking about what else to add. "Oh, and bowing isn't proper enough." He said after a moment. "You'll be expected to kneel."

"Must I?" Obi-Wan asked, with more than a hint of exasperation.

"Yes, Obi-Wan." Dooku responded, slightly amused at the Knight's tone. "Sith couldn't settle for simply bowing, after all; that would be far too Jedi-like."

Obi-Wan sighed and had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. "And we mustn't have that."

"Of course not." Dooku agreed amiably before continuing. "Simply be respectful and answer any questions politely and simply. Force willing, he'll leave you alone."

"Unlikely."

Dooku raised an eyebrow. "You really _are_ pessimistic."

"I prefer to call it being _realistic_." Obi-Wan responded, unfazed.

Dooku shrugged again, nodding. "I suppose that would be accurate, as chances are he is here _specifically_ to speak with you."

"I feel honored." The Jedi responded, then considered that a moment. "Or, I suppose I would be, if he wasn't a Sith that will likely kill me if he realizes I'm not actually a Sith myself, which is probably what will happen."

"When you lay it out in such a way, perhaps we should _both_ suffer an attack of nerves and hide with the Acolytes." Dooku suggested, but he again began leading the way towards Sidious.

"I thought your Acolytes were lacking in sense, or at least that some of them were, but perhaps they're more clever than I gave them credit for." Obi-Wan lamented, following the Sith and mentally preparing himself to meet Sidious again. Once had really been more than enough, after all.

Dooku seemed to be in agreement. "Perhaps." He stopped walking again a few moments later, outside of a double-door, and turned to look at Obi-Wan again. "Alright." He said. "I would let you go first, but Sith aren't fond of courtesy."

"I've noticed." Obi-Wan responded dryly. "And for once, it doesn't bother me. After you."

Dooku opened one of the doors, and they walked into the hall. The reception room was large and grand, with very high, arching ceilings lit with many chandeliers. The room, showing it's disuse, was empty save for the Sith standing quite ominously in the center of it.

Sidious turned to face them as they entered, looking oddly small and unintimidating in the cavernous room. The feeling of cold and dread was much less prominent than Obi-Wan remembered from the cafe, and he wondered if he'd simply gotten so used to darkside force-users in the short time he'd been around Dooku and the Acolytes that it wasn't bothering him as much. Not that he minded; it was much easier to maintain his Jedi serenity when the dark side was less overtly oppressive.

Taking his cues from Dooku, Obi-Wan followed him to the middle of the room and lowered himself to one knee as the former Jedi did, bowing his head and pretending the floor was very interesting. He carefully worked to block out the cold, twisting tendrils of the dark side that swirled around the Sith and reached towards him, as Sidious addressed Dooku.

"My apprentice." The Sith Lord spoke, his voice soft and icy in contrast to the dark, gravelly tone Obi-Wan remembered. Again, he was struck strongly with the feeling that he knew that voice from somewhere, and frowned slightly at the stone floor at his inability to place it. "Report."

"Everything is going well." Obi-Wan heard Dooku speak smoothly and confidently. "There was an unexpected complication of a clone battalion that was seemingly sent to Raxus Prime by mistake, but my acolyte Tann is taking care of explaining it's... _Absence_, and maintaning the cover of the base."

"I see." Sidious said, voice lowering menacingly. "An odd coincidence, that clones would be sent _here_, of all places."

"Indeed." Dooku responded, and when Sidious obviously wanted elaboration, he continued. "Neither of us, nor the Acolytes, know why they were sent here, or by who."

Obi-Wan was certain he felt the waver of half-truth through the Force at Dooku's words, but it was faint; he was _almost_ telling the truth, after all. Still, if _he_ had felt it was untrue, even with his only minimal connection to Dooku, surely Sidious had felt it as well.

But strangely Sidious apparently hadn't, or was unbothered by it, as he didn't comment. "And I presume the outcome of the battle was in our favor?"

"Yes." Dooku confirmed. "We lost all of the droids, but they were hardly in working condition to begin with. None of the Acolytes were seriously harmed, and as you can see, neither of us were either."

"The droids can be replaced." Sidious agreed dismissively. "Well done."

Dooku nodded gracefully at Sidious in response and there was silence a moment, before Obi-Wan felt Sidious' attention turn towards him. "Kenobi."

_'Don't you usually call me Obi-Wan?'_ The Jedi wondered without thinking and felt shocked a moment later at the thought, not sure where it had come from. Sidious had certainly called him 'Kenobi' throughout their last meeting.

He shook the thought away, deciding he'd consider it later when he _wasn't_ supposed to be trying to fool a Sith--assuming he'd have a later, of course. He gave a small nod to let Sidious know he'd heard him, not sure if he should answer or wait for Sidious to continue.

Apparently waiting was an acceptable choice, as Sidious didn't seem bothered when he spoke again. "What is _your_ report?"

Obi-Wan was momentarily very confused. Was he supposed to have a different opinion than Dooku? Surely not, and he _didn't_ after all.

"Everything is under control at the moment. A clone battalion was, apparently, mistakenly sent here, to Raxus Prime, but has been destroyed by a combination of Dooku, myself, the Acolytes, and the droids. Tann is overseeing covering up the disappearance of the clones." The Jedi told Sidious, with much more confidence than he actually felt as he simply repackaged Dooku's summary.

"That is exactly what he said." Sidious responded, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Yes. It is also the truth." Obi-Wan countered, looking up at the Sith and feeling a bit annoyed himself. He still couldn't recognize the man, though his chin did look oddly familiar, not that Obi-Wan was in the habit of recognizing people by their chins.

Sidious considered that, long enough that the Knight was beginning to become concerned his comment had been a bit too snarky, before the Sith finally spoke again. "Get out of here, Kenobi."

That had certainly not been the response he was expecting, and for a moment he felt almost panicked, certain Sidious had seen through their facade and was simply giving him a head-start to run. But no, it seemed that he'd simply been dismissed, and rather casually too. In fact, he was almost slightly offended at just how casual it had been, but Obi-Wan was certainly not about to argue and got to his feet.

He crossed the room quickly but cast a glance backwards as he reached the door, hesitating slightly; he suddenly wasn't certain whether to leave as he'd been told, or stay. Surely if he had been sent away, Sidious simply wanted to speak to Dooku alone about something, and it wasn't that they'd been found out. Otherwise, Obi-Wan doubted he would have been sent gallivanting on his way. But still, he felt oddly reluctant to leave Dooku with the other Sith, and he realized with a slight sense of dismay that it was the same feeling he had when he was with Anakin, or another Jedi; the feeling of loyalty and protectiveness, which were certainly not things he was supposed to be feeling for a Sith he was simply stuck with for the time being.

But there was nothing he would gain by angering Sidious, and so reluctantly Obi-Wan opened the door and left the room, stepping out into the hallway and suddenly finding himself face-to-face with Ventress. Blinking once in surprise at the fact that he hadn't sensed her, he quickly settled for scowling at her as he shut the door. "What do you want?"

Ventress, who had been not-so-subtly trying to catch a glance into the room before Obi-Wan shut the door, smiled icily at him. "I see you're still alive."

"I hadn't noticed." Obi-Wan responded, brushing past her as if he had something more interesting to be doing than talking to her. He didn't really, but he started towards his suite in hopes of finding one. Unfortunately for him, Ventress followed.

"For a Jedi, you really are flippant." Ventress commented, easily matching his pace. "Aren't you supposed to be cordial?"

"This _is_ cordial." Obi-Wan said, looking over at her. He didn't miss how she'd called him a Jedi; obviously, she was attempting to goad him into denying it, so he decided to ignore it. Of course, the proper Sith thing to do was probably to beat her over the head with his lightsabre hilt for being so insubordinate, but Obi-Wan really couldn't bring himself to do such a thing for multiple reasons. No matter how satisfying it might be.

"I suppose." The Acolyte drawled amiably, still wandering along beside him as if they were friends. She suddenly stopped, and when Obi-Wan ignored her and continued on walking, she reached out and grabbed him by the arm.

He stopped immediately, turning towards her and looking down at her hand, then back at her eyes. Throwing the Force behind his glare in a way that made it quite clear he was not amused in the slightest, he lowered his voice and tried to appear intimidating. "I suggest you remove your hand before I do it for you."

Ventress smiled coolly at him but promptly let go. "A good attempt." She said, tilting her head slightly to the side. "But not good enough, Jedi." She took a step back, gazing appraisingly at him before locking eyes with him intently. "I don't understand how you have convinced Master Dooku of your allegiance to the Sith, but know you don't fool me, Jedi."

"I suppose it's a good thing I don't particularly care if you believe me." Obi-Wan told her, shrugging casually as if the conversation was a waste of time, when in reality his patience was beginning to wear thin, especially considering he remember having nearly the same conversation with Skorr a few hours earlier. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Not at the moment." Ventress responded, unbothered by his seemingly indifferent attitude. Either she wasn't as quick to get the hint as Skorr or she was purposefully ignoring it, which seemed more likely. "At least nothing more important than tormenting a Jedi who's pretending, poorly, to be a Sith."

"I wish I could say _I_ don't have better things to do than torment an Acolyte who pretends, poorly, to be a Sith, but I do." Obi-Wan responded, turning away from her to resume his walk down the hall.

She immediately grabbed his arm and pulled him back again, all pretenses of calm gone as she suddenly became a whirlwind of anger of malevolence. "You are not taking me as seriously as you really should be." She warned. "Don't underestimate me. I wouldn't want it to be too easy, after all, or it wouldn't be nearly so impressive."

Obi-Wan pondered momentarily whether he should retaliate or simply continue to act as though this was all just an annoyance to him, and decided on the latter as he reminded himself again that he was still a Jedi, and he was not to act in anger even though it would be proper for a Sith and even though Ventress really deserved it.

"I'll keep that in mind." He said, allowing his tone to become almost lazy. "After all, it is so important to me that you look impressive to Dooku."

Ventress scowled darkly at him, but rather than responding, she simply shoved him away before storming down the hall dramatically, her skirt sweeping along the floor behind her. The Knight raised his eyebrows slightly, a bit uncertain of Ventress' sanity even compared to the other Sith and Acolytes he knew of, and wondering what Dooku would say about the strange conversation.

He was about to continue towards his suite when he felt Dooku's Force signature nearing, so he decided to wait a few minutes for the Sith to catch up. A short time later, Dooku appeared around the corner, looking no worse for the wear than when Obi-Wan had left him.

"That went well enough." Dooku informed him at the questioning look, which he then followed with his own. "You look disheveled. I wasn't gone _that_ long."

Obi-Wan scowled at him for the insinuation, even though it hadn't been serious, and proceeded to recount his discussion with Ventress as they began towards Obi-Wan's room again. The Jedi finished his story a minute or so later as they reached his door, and he turned slightly to look at Dooku. "Did I offend her in some way, or is that simply the way Dark Jedi are?"

"That's simply the way _she_ is." Dooku responded, with a slight sigh. "She's probably quite jealous; she was the closest of my Acolytes to becoming my apprentice, after all."

"She still is." Obi-Wan reminded him pointedly, pressing his hand against the scanner on his door. "Though I must ask why you would have chosen her, of all the Acolytes. It couldn't have been her charming personality."

Dooku chuckled. "No." He agreed. "I meant it when I said you would be better to have around."

"After seeing my competition, I am not flattered." Obi-Wan responded, leading the way into the room as the door opened.

Dooku looked amused, taking a seat at Obi-Wan's desk as the Knight began to pace slowly. "There is another reason Ventress is so hostile towards you, you know."

"Oh?" Obi-Wan asked, raising an eyebrow again as he paused his pacing a moment. "Enlighten me."

"She's attracted to you." Dooku said, as it was obvious.

Obi-Wan just looked at him for a moment, before sighing and resuming walking. "Oh, wonderful." He finally said.

"She's lovely once you get to know her." Dooku continued lightly, with a slightly mischievous expression. "She's like a stubborn, bad tempered, sharp-tongued kitten. You two would match nicely."

Obi-Wan gave him a dark look for that. "Don't get any ideas."

"Why would I get any ideas?" Dooku asked, doing a poor job of feigning innosense.

Obi-Wan ignored him, changing the subject. "What happened with Sidious?"

"The usual." Dooku responded with an elegant shrug, and just as he had before, Obi-Wan felt he wasn't telling the whole truth. "He gave me information on where to strike next, more plans and goals for the confederacy, and such."

The Jedi was sure there was more to it than that, but let it go for the moment. "Is he _really_ so dense?" He asked instead, incredulously. "I don't know how we managed to fool him a second time, _in person_. Over a holo-communication, perhaps, but not like this."

"To be honest, I'm rather confused as well." Dooku admitted, watching his apprentice pace the room. Suddenly, Obi-Wan stopped, turning back to look at him intently.

"Who _is_ he, Dooku? I recognize his voice. He is someone I know, and someone I know well, but I can't make the connection." The Jedi said, folding his arms and regarding the Sith seriously.

Dooku shook his head. "I can't tell you, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan frowned, not bothering to hide that he was displeased with that answer. "And why not, Dooku? You were going to tell me before, as part of the deal. You still are supposed to reveal this information. I am at a disadvantage in this entire ruse if I don't know how it all fits together."

Dooku shook his head again calmly. "You don't need to know. I will take care of everything. Trust me."

"We have been over this; I _don't_ trust you. And it is because of reasons like this." Obi-Wan told him, frustrated. "You're making it incredibly difficult to believe that you are honest in any of your intentions, if you won't help at even a basic level."

Dooku frowned at him as well. "You'll simply tell your precious Council, and it will quickly get to Darth Sidious that I told you who he was. Then we will both end up dead. Does that sound pleasant to you?"

"Don't patronize me. Of course not." Obi-Wan said, his own tone rather patronizing on it's own. "But the Council _can_ keep a secret, Dooku."

"I have no faith in that." Dooku responded.

Obi-Wan was about to argue, but decided he would get no where discussing that point. Dooku's opinion of the Council was set, and he doubted he could change it. "I could simply not inform the Council."

"You could." Dooku agreed, though he gave his apprentice a pointed look. "But I couldn't see that happening. I could, however, easily see you giving me your word you wouldn't tell them, and then cheerfully doing it anyway."

Obi-Wan was rather offended at that, ignoring the part of his mind that admitted the Sith had a point. "I'm not _you_, Dooku."

"No, but at times you're close enough." Dooku responded, and Obi-Wan didn't know what to say to that.

The Count stood up, sweeping past Obi-Wan to the door before looking back at him. "I suggest you get some rest; you look terrible, you know." He commented, then he was gone.

Obi-Wan blinked dazedly at the door, wondering exactly what had just happened, and if he was the only sane person left in the fortress.

* * *

Padmé Amidala sat silently, still and serene like a doll as she waited. She knew others sometimes found it strange how she could wait so statue-like, but unlike many people, Padmé wasn't fond of pacing. Most likely, it was because her shoes were hardly ever built for walking, let alone for any unnecessary treading of tracks in the carpet. 

The Senator was more than willing to be patient, as well, as she was waiting for her husband to come home. He'd been at the Temple all day, and from the call he'd managed to sneak to her she knew something was going on, but had no idea what.

Palpatine was away currently on a diplomatic effort in the mid rim, but with Mas Ameeda simply keeping order in his place the Senate was able to discuss a few minor matters successfully, and so while Anakin had been at the Temple, Padmé had spent the entire day in discussion about things that had no real significance. Of course, this had required an elaborate gown, and so she was still wearing a floor-length, emerald green dress with fitted sleeves and a wide skirt, decorated in an intricate pattern of iridescent beads. Her hair had been piled in top of her head in a complicated series of pins and clips, but she had undone all of it upon hearing Anakin would be arriving shortly. He liked her hair down, after all.

She sensed Anakin before she heard his speeder park outside her balcony, and she immediately stood and crossed the room to meet him as he entered the apartment.

"I can tell you didn't have a good day." Padmé said upon taking one look at her husband's expression.

Anakin's turbulent emotions smoothed slightly at Padmé's gentle tone, and he sighed slightly as he swept into her apartment. "No, I didn't. You won't believe it."

Padmé tilted her head slightly and she followed him into the apartment, her long skirts bushing across the floor. She discreetly kicked her shoes off to the side. "I don't know; I've heard some unbelievable things, Ani." She smiled at him as he turned back towards her, and she reached up to touch him gently on the cheek. "What is it?"

Anakin sighed again. "I'm not supposed to tell you, but I don't care. The Council gave me an update on Obi-Wan's meeting with Dooku."

"Is he alright?" Padmé asked as she led Anakin to the couch and they sat down, suddenly concerned she'd come across the reason for Anakin's mood.

"Yeah, he's alright, Padmé." Anakin confirmed, and Padmé smiled in relief. Anakin was her husband, and her favorite of 'her two Jedi', as Dormé called them, but she had developed a strong friendship with Obi-Wan as well. "But the meeting didn't go very well." Anakin continued, "Apparently, the second Sith, Darth Sidious, showed up."

Padmé was shocked for a moment. "What? Just like that? Was it a trap all along?"

"Oddly enough, I still don't know, and neither does anyone else." Anakin said, sighing and shaking his head. "From what I understand, Dooku and Obi-Wan came up with some story about Obi-Wan joining the Sith, and Darth Sidious bought it."

"Wait," Padmé said, holding up a hand gracefully. "What? That... Doesn't make sense."

"You're telling me. Who'd believe Obi-Wan was a Sith, anyway?" Anakin said, rolling his eyes and adopting an oddly believable Coruscanti accent. "'Oh, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to kill you now. You know, as I'm a Sith and all, and--oh dear, I don't know how to do Force Lightning yet. Would you mind if I killed you with my lightsabre instead?'"

Padmé snorted in a rather undignified manner before dissolving into a fit of giggles. Anakin smiled at her as she attempted to compose herself, which took a few moments. "Okay," She said, once the giggles had stopped. "I'm sorry. Please continue." She said, once again the calm, authoritative Senator.

Of course, this simply caused Anakin to start his own quiet giggle fit, which he valiantly tried to hide. Padmé had a difficult time not falling into another bout herself, and had to bite her lip and stare at the ceiling until Anakin's Jedi training won out and he got control of himself.

"Okay." Anakin said, trying to remember where they were in their conversation. "So Obi-Wan is undercover as a Sith now, and apparently he's going to be finding out information about both the Sith and the Separtists at the same time, or something. The Council didn't really give me details."

Padmé nodded, frowning slightly. "And Dooku?"

"I don't know. I think they worked out a deal or something, so they're working together." Anakin said, shrugging and shaking his head. "It sounds insane."

"That's one way of describing it." Padmé agreed quietly, sighing. She looked seriously at her husband. "Is there anything we can do?"

Anakin shook his head, his frustration obvious. "No. In fact, I am 'not, under any circumstances, to go seeking out Obi-Wan, Dooku, the Sith, or anyone else', or something like that." He sighed. "And I'm stuck with Master Mundi until Obi-Wan comes back."

Padmé nodded, considering this for a moment, before smiling up at him coyly. "Has this 'Master Mundi' given you a time you need to go back to the Temple?"

Anakin just looked at her a moment, before a small grin grew on his face. "No, I think everyone forgot about that." He answered, reaching out to twirl Padmé's dark curls around his fingers. "Why, did you have plans?"

"I had a few ideas..." Padmé said, placing her hands over his and pulling him gently to his feet as she stood. "Why don't we go to my bedroom, and I'll explain them."

Anakin's grin just got wider. "Lead the way, milady."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes:** Alrighty! New chapter, and even though I cut it a bit, it's still the longest chapter so far. No idea how that happened, but whatever. :P A bit more setup and character interaction and introduction this chapter, but there's some plot you might miss if you blink. :P I hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Deceptions**  
Chapter 6  
by Amrita Glittersong

Obi-Wan had wandered the halls of the fortress for some time as he looked for the kitchens the next morning, too stubborn to go back to his suite to check the map. He'd woken up about an hour earlier, after deciding to heed Dooku's advice the night before, and had been quite pleased to find that Sidious was gone by the time he had awakened. A message blinking on his comm informed him that a new set of Sith clothing had been delivered to him, though his cape was still draped over the chair where he'd left it and therefore had not been fixed yet. Not that he really cared, of course.

And so, after changing and pulling on his boots, and trying to make his very frizzy hair lie normally--a Sith with bedhead was not impressive, after all--he had stalked off into the fortress and promptly gotten lost. Eventually though, he had run into Tann who had pointed him in the correct direction with no questions asked and no condescending looks. At that point the Knight had decided that Tann was by far his favorite Acolyte.

So he had finally reached the kitchens, and spent a little while dealing with the dusty kitchen droids in an attempt to find something edible. A few minutes later, he had procured some food he vaguely recognized to be fit for consumption, as well as a cup of caf, and chosen a corner of the kitchen to eat in.

The kitchen droids were ignoring him, and a quick scan of the Force told him the Acolytes were scattered through the fortress, none nearby. However, there _was_ a rather unignorable Force presence very close, and so Obi-Wan was not surprised when Dooku entered the room.

The Knight took a sip of caf as Dooku approached, giving him a cold look that the Sith promptly ignored.

"Must you sit on the floor?" Dooku asked with a sigh, slowly kneeling down to the floor as well once he had reached the Jedi. "It's difficult enough that I'm required to do this whenever Sidious is around."

Obi-Wan shrugged, not paying much attention as he tried to figure out what the green things in his breakfast were.

"You're still angry with me, aren't you." It wasn't really a question.

"No. I'm annoyed with you." Obi-Wan corrected him with a sigh, taking another drink. "It takes more than someone being difficult to make me angry."

"I imagine." Dooku commented. "You _have_ lived with Skywalker for ten years."

Obi-Wan fixed Dooku with a hard look. "You're quickly approaching actually making me angry. Keep your comments about my Padawan to yourself."

"My apologies." Dooku said, and he almost seemed sincere, though Obi-Wan was pretty sure it was more an apology for being insensitive rather than for insulting Anakin. There was silence for a moment before Dooku spoke again. "What _are_ you eating?"

Obi-Wan gave his food an incredulous look. "I'm not certain. But it's edible enough, so I'm not especially concerned."

Dooku nodded, and there was quiet again, for about forty seconds. "Your hair is quite fluffy this morning."

"Do you have anything _important_ to say?" Obi-Wan asked, sounding faintly exasperated and pulling his attention away from his caf so he could give Dooku an annoyed look. Subconsciously, he patted his hair down into place again.

Dooku considered that a moment. "No, not that I can think of." He finally decided, shrugging elegantly.

"Then _why_ are you here?" Obi-Wan inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"The kitchen is very scenic." Dooku responded, gesturing at the grey, somewhat dilapidated room that was very out of place in the fortress. "Though more so when not occupied by a bad tempered Jedi with messy hair."

Obi-Wan just shook his head, trying not to be amused. "You only wish you had long enough hair for it to _be_ messy."

"Now that was simply mean." Dooku said, sounding vaguely offended, though it was clear he wasn't. "And I return to the 'bad tempered' comment."

"I'm hungry, and you are talking about nothing." Obi-Wan responded, raising an eyebrow at him. "Even a Jedi's patience is tested by that."

Dooku seemed to accept that. "Fine. Finish... Whatever it is you have, then we are going to the hangar bay. I do actually have something of importance to speak with you about."

"Then you're a liar." Obi-Wan commented, taking another drink.

Dooku just sighed. "Are you going to be like this all day?"

"Perhaps."

"Then I suppose it's a good thing that I'm sending you out on an assignment." The Sith commented, prompting a slightly surprised and confused expression from Obi-Wan

Dooku frowned chidingly. "Don't give me that look. It's nothing you would object to, and very routine."

Obi-Wan frowned slightly as well. "Oh?" He didn't sound particularly convinced. "What is it?"

"One of my Acolytes and his informant have gotten themselves stranded on the planet Alliga, while scouting for a possible location for another base." Dooku explained, pulling out a datapad and keying up the information on the planet. "I need you to retrieve them safely. You'll be taking Skorr with you, as Tann is busy, Darc is afraid of you, and I thought it would be best to keep you and Asajj separated."

Obi-Wan nodded, setting down his caf and taking the datapad. Alliga was dark, foggy planet covered in forests, with a small scattering of cities. It was the home planet of Holwuffs, and the government was leaning heavily towards favoring the Separatists. "I imagine that, knowing the way things are, the Acolyte is stranded in one of the forests."

"I believe you are correct." Dooku said, faintly amused by the Knight's long-suffering tone. "We don't have communication with him any longer, but he was exploring the forests the last time we did. However, it should be little difficulty; you and Skorr can manage whatever you run across in the forest."

"Why are two of us needed?" Obi-Wan asked, continuing to read the datapad.

"One Fanblade can carry two people, so two Fanblades are needed to pick them up as well as transport you and Skorr." Dooku explained. "I would have simply sent Skorr alone, but his freighter is undergoing repairs, and I don't trust him not to fight with Vos."

Obi-Wan blinked at that, and looked up at Dooku. "'Vos?'"

"Yes." Dooku responded, rasing an eyebrow. "Quinlan Vos. He became an Acolyte of mine just over a week ago."

"Is that so?" Obi-Wan asked, trying to hide his surprise. Quinlan had been a friend of his since they were both Padawans, when they met during the Stark Hyperspace War.

"Yes." Dooku said again, giving Obi-Wan a pointed look. "Do you know him?"

"I do, yes." The Knight admitted, nodding.

"Well, I hope you get along with him better than Skorr does, though that shouldn't be difficult." Dooku commented, getting carefully to his feet. "Meet me in the hangar bay when you're finished here; I must go find Skorr."

Obi-Wan nodded in affirmation at Dooku, who left soon afterwards. About five minutes later Obi-Wan was on his way to the hangar bay, having memorized the map of the fortress he'd found on the datapad. Reading more about Alliga as he walked, he didn't sense Ventress until she had entered the corridor with him. Then he sighed.

"Ventress." He greeted her dully, as she strode over. He kept walking.

"Kenobi." She drawled in response. "What are you doing?"

"Walking down the hall, attempting to read this, and holding a conversation with you all at once." Obi-Wan responded flatly. "Quite obviously."

"You know what I meant." The Acolyte said, sounding annoyed.

"I am on my way to the hangar bay." Obi-Wan told her honestly with another sigh, seeing no reason to lie to her as she was simply going to follow him anyway.

"Are we going somewhere?"

"_You_ are not going anywhere." Obi-Wan told her, raising an eyebrow. "Skorr and I are."

"What? The Fanblades are the only ships in the hangar right now, and they're _mine_." Ventress protested, looking quite displeased as she continued following alongside him. For a moment, the pout and whining tone reminded Obi-Wan of Anakin, which he immediately felt guilty about. Anakin was no psychopath like Ventress, after all.

"Apparently, they are less yours than you thought." Obi-Wan responded patiently, as if explaining something to a child.

Ventress just growled at that, and Obi-Wan had to tell himself pointedly that, as a Jedi, he was not to take satisfaction in her annoyance. So with great effort, he simply ignored her as she stalked sullenly after him, until they both reached the hangar.

Skorr and Dooku were already present, and Obi-Wan got his first look at the Fanblades in person. There were six, lined up in a row, all with the fans folded as they always were when not in flight. They looked much like their names even when closed, strongly resembling folded paper fans with a rounded front cockpit like on the solar sailer. They were silver-chrome colored, with canopies made of ruby-red transparisteel. The Jedi had the feeling that, should he get to keep one of these ships after the entire ruse was over, Anakin would be quite jealous.

"Obi-Wan... Ventress." Dooku greeted them both as they approached, Skorr nodding at Obi-Wan as his greeting and getting a nod in return. "What are you doing here, Asajj? Didn't I send you to assist Tann?"

Ventress shrugged slightly, but nodded. "She said she didn't want my help. She's rather snippy in the mornings."

Obi-Wan could tell Dooku was refraining from just sighing and shaking his head in response. "Alright." The Count finally said. "I have a project that could use your insight; I will explain after Obi-Wan and Skorr have left." That said, and with Ventress looking appeased, the Sith turned his attention back towards his apprentice and other Acolyte. "As for the two of you, you know what you're doing. Take the Fanblades and find Vos and Hentz on Alliga, then return. I expect you can manage this without being noticed or doing anything to create disillusionment with the Confederacy on the planet."

"Yes, Master Dooku." Skorr affirmed, and Obi-Wan inclined his head casually in agreement as well.

"Then go. The hyperspace trip is five hours each direction. Obi-Wan, your Fanblade is the one on the far left." Dooku said simply before turning away and gesturing for Ventress to follow him as they strode from the hangar bay, leaving Obi-Wan and Skorr alone.

"Have you ever been to Alliga?" Skorr asked him, checking a few of the pouches on his belt as he spoke.

"No. Have you?" Obi-Wan responded, as he went over to his Fanblade and triggered the release on the canopy. The cockpit of the ship was small, but there was enough room for a pilot and a gunner. He remembered from the schematics that the wing-tip cannons were made to be easily fired by the pilot while flying, while the cannons on the main body of the ship were controlled by the optional gunner.

"No." Skorr said, having a bit more trouble opening his own Fanblade. "Supposed to be dark and foggy all the time, I've heard."

"Yes, apparently it is." Obi-Wan agreed, getting into this ship and pausing a moment to wait and make sure Skorr finally got into his own. Flipping on his comm unit as he shut the canopy, he began going through preflight checks.

So far it seemed easy enough to work with Skorr, as the Acolyte wasn't argumentative or outright hostile like Ventress and appeared to be reasonably competent, if slightly less than graceful. Obi-Wan was still slightly wary however, as Skorr had indicated before that he didn't believe Obi-Wan had truly joined the Sith, but from what the Knight could sense Skorr was only focused on doing what Dooku had asked rather than causing problems. At least at the moment.

"Kenobi." Skorr's voice came over the comm, and Obi-Wan turned his attention towards it.

"What is it, Skorr?"

"Did Master Dooku say anything about why he didn't feel I wasn't capable of going on this mission on my own?"

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow, though Skorr couldn't see it. It sounded suspiciously like the Acolyte's feelings were hurt. "Yes, he did." He responded, deciding to pity the former Jedi. "He said that it was mostly that your ship was damaged, though also that you fight with Vos."

"Oh." Skorr responded after a moment. "That makes sense."

"Doesn't it?" Obi-Wan commented dryly, though shaking his head in amusement. "Are you finished with pre-flight checks?"

"Yeah; I'm ready when you are." Skorr confirmed.

Both started their ships and took off, soon clearing the atmosphere and making the jump to hyperspace, on their way to Alliga.

* * *

The hyperspace flight had been very long, quiet, and blue, and Obi-Wan had made the most of the opportunity to meditate on his current priority of discovering Sidious' identity. He'd more or less given up on convincing Dooku to tell him outright, at least any time in the near future, though he had the feeling that if he sprung a good guess on him Dooku would simply meet him halfway and confirm or deny it. Of course, in order to do that, he needed a good guess, and that was eluding him.

Not entirely, of course; he knew it had to be someone male, someone human or near human, someone nearly exactly his height, and someone he knew and spoke to relatively often. The problem with that was that the only candidates couldn't possibly be Sith... Could they? Obi-Wan had learned something from the mystery of the hidden planet, Kamino, and that was that the 'impossible' was rarely as impossible as it would seem. It had been unthinkable that the Archives could have been tampered with, and yet they had been, and so it was just as possible that the Coucil _could_ have missed a Sith Lord right under their noses. However, Obi-Wan hoped it wasn't so, because both his mind and his intuition pointed to the same individual, and that person was probably the worst one possible to turn out to be a Sith Lord in disguise.

He decided he would speak with Dooku once he returned and had a good opportunity. Perhaps he could glean a few hints off of him through conversation that would help him be more or less certain of his suspicions.

A bell chimed to alert him to the fact that he would be dropping from hyperspace within seconds, and a short time later the blue streaks of hyperspace faded into the real-space glimmer of distant stars. He'd come out of hyperspace about a quarter of a standard hour of flying from the planet of Alliga, which appeared as a large, murky grey-green planet in the distance. A blip on his console appeared as Skorr's Fanblade returned to real space nearby, and Obi-Wan flipped on his comm.

"What an inviting looking planet." Skorr commented over the communicator, sounding unamused.

"It is more inviting than Raxus Prime." Obi-Wan responded, vastly preferring the slightly ominous look of Alliga to the sickly yellow appearance of Raxus Prime.

"Yeah, I guess." Skorr agreed. "I don't like yellow."

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes at that inane comment and was about to respond when he felt an odd sense of frustration and dismay, causing him to frown slightly in confusion. He had been amused, not annoyed or bothered, and so there was nothing he could think of to cause those feelings. He wondered a moment where they had come from, but before he could attempt to figure it out Skorr's voice came across the comm again. "I'm picking up a reading on Hentz's ship."

Obi-Wan activated his own scanners, and soon found the ship as well. "Indeed, I have it also. There seems to be minimal scanning from Alliga itself and what _is _there is centered on the opposite side of the planet, so we should have little trouble landing undetected."

"Great. Let's go, then." Skorr said, with the barely controlled impatience of someone who wanted to get over and done with their mission already and go back home.

"I had no intention of _loitering_, Skorr." Obi-Wan responded, rolling his eyes again and this time wishing Skorr _could_ see the gesture. "But as you are so eager, you may go first and be the test for any weapons that may be hidden from our scanners."

Skorr was quiet a moment. "I don't like you."

"You're not supposed to." Obi-Wan responded. The chances of hidden weapons were extremely small on a planet of this level, and so he wasn't really concerned the Acolyte would meet with any danger, but it was kind of fun at times to play being a Sith by messing with the underlings. "Now go."

Skorr sighed and flew the Fanblade towards the surface of the planet, following the readout of where the crashed ship was supposed to be and grumbling over the comm the entire way. Obi-Wan followed after him, and they soon landed in the forest of the foggy, dark planet.

Powering down the ship, Obi-Wan opened the canopy and jumped out. He looked around in the dim light, over to where Skorr had also exited his ship and was walking over to join him. "It's dark." The Acolyte commented, sounding rather put-out by this fact. Of course, both being Force-sensitive the darkness was no hindrance to them, but it seemed Skorr was just enjoying complaining. Obi-Wan was enjoying ignoring him.

"The ship should be this way." The Knight said, indicating the direction they should go. Skorr nodded his agreement and they both started cautiously that way, keeping aware of their surroundings and for any sign of Quinlan and his informat.

It didn't take long before the two came across the downed ship, but neither of the pair they were supposed to be rescuing were anywhere to be found.

"There appears to be no danger here, so _why_ would they abandon the wreckage?" Obi-Wan asked, allowing himself to sound exasperated and sighing as he regarded the crashed ship with his arms folded. Skorr looked just as unamused.

"Because staying with it would have been _intelligent_, something neither Vos or his little bug are." The Acolyte muttered in response.

"Can you sense either of them?" Obi-Wan asked, reaching out to the Force himself as he did.

"No." Skorr grumbled, kicking a rock into the fog. "Vos is cloaking himself, and probably Hentz as well."

Obi-Wan nodded slightly; he'd come to the same conclusion, but unlike Skorr, he _had_ sensed something. Not enough to give a location, but enough to give a general direction to look. "We'll search to the west." He told Skorr, earning an indifferent shrug in response.

"This is quite possibly the stupidest mission I've ever been on." Skorr said, crossing his arms as well and following Obi-Wan farther into the forest.

"Is that so?" Obi-Wan asked, glancing back at him. "I can think of many far worse than this that I have been on."

"Fine, I'll amend that comment to 'the stupidest mission I've been on since joining Master Dooku.'" Skorr responded, looking around at the trees as they walked. "The assignments while I was a Jedi were usually pretty terrible."

"Were you ever sent to Mikara?" Obi-Wan asked, only partially paying attention as he thought he heard something in the distance.

"That frozen mudball they call a planet? Yes. And I hope never to return." Skorr said, apparently having heard nothing. "One of the two, cold or mud, is bad enough. Together they're outright offensive."

"I didn't enjoy that planet much either." Obi-Wan agreed, still following the flickering hints of Force-presence he could feel from Quinlan as he listened carefully for the sound again.

Meanwhile, Skorr rambled about some planet Obi-Wan had missed the name of. "-And it rained the entire time. That would have been fine if the rain hadn't _dissolved_ whatever it hit. I spent a week in the medward for acid burns one ti..." He stopped as an ominous growling noise rumbled from within the fog. "...Kenobi, did you hear that?"

"Yes." Obi-Wan responded, looking around as he searched the Force for the source of the noise while Skorr did the same.

"Couldn't be peaceful while we were here, of course." Skorr commented bitterly, unclipping his lightsabre. "Oh well. At least I'll get to kill something."

Obi-Wan drew his own lightsabre but didn't activate it, still searching in the Force. The planet, though dark to their eyes, was bright and shimmering with life in the Force which made it difficult to differentiate between everything there, as it all blended into one glow. He found the source of the growling only an instant before it found him, and he ignited his sabre as he twirled to meet the reptilian creature leaping at him.

It was about a meter and a half in length, with a long tail, a huge mouth filled with sharp teeth, and six legs. It was also now laying in two pieces on the ground after meeting with the blue lightsabre, but there appeared to be more where it came from. Four more, to be exact, two of which seemingly doing their best to devour Skorr.

The Jedi expertly dispatched one of the two creatures attacking the Acolyte, but had to spin around and duck as one of the others flew over his head while trying to leap on him. The second one was a bit smarter, darting in low and clamping it's large jaw around one of his ankles, though the effect was greatly lessened by the armour built into his boots. Mentally thanking Dooku, Obi-Wan easily took out the creature he now recognized as a nashtah with a quick stab of his sabre before pivoting to strike the one that had gone over his head as it tried to jump at him again. His two nashtah defeated, he stood and saw that Skorr had managed to eliminate his last nashtah as well.

"Are you alright, Skorr?" The Knight asked, limping a few steps over to the Acolyte and feeling rather put-out by the entire ordeal, even if it had been short. Being attacked by lizard creatures was not high on his list of favorite pasttimes, and he knew that Dooku was going to make fun of him for getting one of his boots destroyed, too.

"Ow; they kriffing clawed me. I'm bleeding." Skorr announced, a bit over dramatically and prompting a raised eyebrow from Obi-Wan. It really didn't look that bad.

"Obviously. However it appears as though it could be worse." The Jedi commented, unimpressed, but he kneeled next to Skorr anyway.

"I hate this planet." Skorr said, and this time Obi-Wan felt inclined to agree with him as he checked the Acolyte's injuries. "How bad is it?"

"Not very." Obi-Wan told him truthfully. "You'll be alright. It's already ceased bleeding." Honestly, he thought the Acolyte was being a bit of a whiner, but he kept that to himself even if it would be more Sithly to just say it. "Let's continue on. The sooner that we locate Vos and Hentz, the sooner we may leave and the less chance we have of coming across more nashtahs."

Skorr didn't respond, getting sullenly to his feet and gesturing for Obi-Wan to lead the way. They resumed their trek through the forest, their surroundings continuing to get darker as night approached. However, Obi-Wan could feel that they were close to Quinlan now, and it wouldn't take long to reach him.

Sure enough, they reached what appeared to be a small clearing, though it was difficult to tell with all the fog. What wasn't difficult to see, however, was a bright green lightsabre cutting through the mist and revealing it's wielder, Quinlan Vos.

Quinlan looked just as Obi-Wan remembered; tall with long black dreadlocks, green eyes, and a band of yellow across his face that designated which Kiffar clan he belonged to. A pretty, violet-haired woman was with him, staying well back out of the way of the three and only barely visible through the fog.

Quinlan lowered his lightsabre as he recognized Obi-Wan and Skorr, regarding them with some surprise. "Obi-Wan?" He said, sounding a bit confused, but Obi-Wan gave him a look that clearly meant he would explain later. The Acolyte quickly shook off his surprise, and instead eyed the ragged appearance of the duo. "What happened to you two?"

"I am going to kill you, Vos." Skorr said, eye twitching as he started forward. Only Obi-Wan reaching out and grabbing the back of his tunic stopped the Acolyte from jumping on Quinlan and attempting to beat him to a pulp.

As it was, Quinlan just raised an eyebrow. "It was only a question."

"Rashtahs." Obi-Wan responded, answering said question before continuing. "We're here to transport you back to Raxus Prime. Our Fanblades are a short walk in that direction," He indicated the way he meant by nodding his head, "near the wreckage of your ship."

Quinlan nodded and turned back towards the woman, smiling encouragingly at her and gesturing her forward. He looked at Obi-Wan. "Introductions are in order, I suppose. Obi-Wan, this is Khaleen Hentz. Khaleen, this is Obi-Wan Kenobi."

Khaleen eyed him warily, but nodded in greeting.

"Now that we're finished being _friendly_, let's get back to the kriffing ships." Skorr suggested scathingly, before turning and stomping off back in the correct direction. Quite obviously, the Acolyte had reached the end of his patience, and Obi-Wan was almost impressed it had lasted that long.

Giving Quinlan and Khaleen a look to signal they should follow, he set off after Skorr, wondering if the Acolyte's stomping would attract any more creatures he would require saving from. Quinlan and Khaleen fell into step next to him, Quinlan turning to look down at him after making sure Skorr was far enough not to hear him speak. "Alright, what's going on?"

"I could ask you the same." Obi-Wan responded, before flickering his glance back at Khaleen a moment.

Quinlan caught the look, as Obi-Wan had intended him to. "It's safe to talk in front of her." He said, and Khaleen smiled slightly at him.

"Alright, then." Obi-Wan responded. "When did you become an Acolyte?"

"Same time you did, apparently." Quinlan responded, frowning.

"In the interest of accuracy, I am a Sith, not an Acolyte." Obi-Wan corrected, prompting an expression from Quinlan he promised himself he would forever remember.

"...I see." The Kiffar finally said, Jedi training kicking in to return his expression and voice to a level approaching normal.

"So, that means you're in charge, right?" Khaleen piped up, looking interested. She'd apparently decided that Obi-Wan was not particularly dangerous based on the relatively casual conversation between him and Quinlan.

"At the moment." Obi-Wan confirmed, looking over at her. "Why?"

"No reason." Khaleen said, though there obviously was one as she looked more cheerful than before.

Obi-Wan just regarded her a moment before letting it go and looking back at Quinlan. "I will speak with you more about this once we return to Raxus Prime." He told him, as they had reached the wreckage and were therefore rapidly approaching the Fanblades.

"Fine." Quinlan agreed with a nod, and after only a minute or so more of walking Skorr and Obi-Wan's Fanblades appeared through the fog. Skorr had already opened the canopy of his ship and was climbing up into it, muttering about never returning to Alliga ever again.

Quinlan regarded the two ships, before looking seriously at Obi-Wan. "You take Khaleen." He told the Knight, his tone matching his expression. "I don't want her riding with _him_." he said, casting a nasty glance in Skorr's direction which was promptly returned by the other Acolyte.

"Fine." Obi-Wan said, ignoring them both and turning towards Khaleen. "You are with me, then." He then looked back at Quinlan and Skorr. "Can I trust the two of you _not_ to fight on the way back to Raxus Prime?"

"If by 'fight' you mean 'injure each other'." Skorr responded, casting another glare in Quinlan's direction.

"Yes, that's what I mean." Obi-Wan told him, trying not to sigh in exasperation and settling for folding his arms instead. "I don't care if you argue with each other, pull hair, or otherwise. Simply be presentable and unharmed by the time we reach the fortress."

Skorr made an unintelligible noise of affirmation as Quinlan nodded, and Obi-Wan left them to their devices as he returned his attention to his own ship. He opened the canopy, then turned towards Khaleen and offered his hand to help her up to the gunner's seat.

Khaleen smiled, accepting his help and climbing gracefully into the ship. Obi-Wan jumped up after her, taking his seat and closing the canopy as he started the preflight check, making certain Khaleen was ready once he'd finished before taking off.

"Skorr." He said over the intercomm. "I'm making the hyperspace jump in a few minutes. Are you on course?"

"Yes, I'm right behind you." Skorr answered. "And I can't say how glad I am to be off that planet, even if it does mean being stuck in a ship with Vos."

"So." Quinlan's voice came over the comm, slightly quiet due to his distance from the device. "Does that mean I should report to Master Dooku that Alliga is out as a possible base?"

"_Yes._" Skorr answered immediately.

"Quite possibly." Obi-Wan agreed, though he really didn't think the planet was quite as terrible as Skorr was convinced it was. The Jedi looked over at Khaleen. "What is your vote?"

"I wasn't really enamoured with it." She responded lightly.

"Then that makes four of us." Quinlan said. "Never thought we'd all agree on _anything_."

"Yeah, but that planet was a new level of horrible. What sort of planet is covered entirely in fog and inhabited by vicious lizards?" Skorr asked, sounding offended by the very concept.

"Better than a planet covered in carnivorous moss." Quinlan commented. "That was offensive."

Obi-Wan looked at Khaleen incredulously, and she just shrugged. "That does sound less than pleasant." The Knight agreed.

"At least there was an upside." Quinlan continued, a few seconds before they were to make the jump to hyperspace. "There's little more amusing than watching _moss_ eat half your master's ponytail."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes:** Oh snap. This was a very difficult chapter. XD None of the characters would behave, and I had a horrid time with the lightsabre fight. Of course, this is a rather important chapter, which makes it even more annoying that it was so hard to write. I have also been staring at it for the past three days, so I may well have missed some stupid mistakes just from overexposure. But I hope it's not too bad, and that y'all enjoy it anyway!

* * *

**Deceptions**  
chapter 8  
by: Amrita Glittersong

The hyperspace trip back to Raxus Prime was as pleasant as being stuck in a small ship for five hours could be. Khaleen was polite and friendly after she'd realized Obi-Wan wasn't a danger to her, as the Knight had been unable to bring himself to even attempt to be at all frightening around her. They had talked most of the way back, and Obi-Wan had learned of Khaleen and Skorr's mutual dislike of each other, as well as a multitude of other things. One of which was that it was quite clear Khaleen was absolutely smitten with Quinlan, if not outright in love with him.

The two ships soon landed in the hangar of the fortress, and Obi-Wan was a little surprised by how pleased he was to be back. He opened the canopy of the ship and got out, helping Khaleen out as well before turning towards Dooku, who was waiting for them.

"Something attacked you two, didn't it." Dooku asked, though it was more of a statement as he regarded his apprentice and Skorr, who'd joined them along with Quinlan.

"What would possibly indicate that?" Obi-Wan asked, tone perfectly questioning, before sweeping past the other Sith towards the doorway back into the main fortress. Reaching the door, he stopped to look back over his shoulder. "Vos, I would like to speak with you once you are finished with your report. I trust that between you and Skorr you will be able to give a satisfactory summary."

"Sure." Quinlan responded amiably, and Skorr just grumbled and looked like he was hiding a rude gesture under his arm.

Dooku, meanwhile, was looking back at Obi-Wan with a slightly amused expression that the Acolytes couldn't see. "I will speak with you later this evening as well."

Obi-Wan nodded at him before leaving the room, finding his way back to the kitchen again. It wasn't often he was away from the Temple and still got to have semi-regular meals, even if he had no idea what they actually consisted of. As he entered the room though, he was not expecting the sight that lay before him.

Ventress was wearing a very dusty apron, looking rather miffed as she more or less beat a countertop with an extremely disheveled duster, not so much picking up the dust as causing it to fly everywhere. Obi-Wan blinked at her, and she blinked back.

"Erm." The Jedi finally said, a bit baffled. "...Am I interrupting something?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" She growled, pulling off the apron and tossing it to the side along with the duster, proceeding to act as though she'd never been anywhere near them. "And I see you're back, if a bit worse for the wear." She added, looking up and down at him and raising an eyebrow.

"I am." Obi-Wan confirmed, then raised an eyebrow as well. "I certainly hope this wasn't the project that Dooku had for you."

"What? No." She grumbled, sweeping past Obi-Wan to kick a suspiciously still kitchen droid for what appeared to be no particularly good reason. She then looked back and smiled coolly, apparently appeased by damaging the droid. "I finished that and then Master Dooku mentioned the kitchen was very dusty."

"And so you went to dust it?" Obi-Wan asked, still a bit confused by the whole situation. What was it about Dooku that compelled his minions to be so fanatical about him, anyway?

"Yes." Ventress confirmed, glaring at him as if challenging him to make something more of it.

"...Well, I suppose it's a good use of your time." Obi-Wan conceded after a moment, deciding to drop the entire line of discussion and proceeding to edge over towards the cabinets, hoping to grab something and get out of there as soon as possible. He still had to figure out exactly what he was going to say to Quinlan, after all, and then what he was going to speak with Dooku about.

Amusingly enough though, as he looked back over at Ventress, it seemed the Acolyte was a bit embarassed about the entire thing, if that was even possible. Before, Obi-Wan wouldn't have been sure it was, but she was almost blushing and when she spoke, she even sounded embarassed. "I'm going to go report to Master Dooku that the kitchen is..." She looked around, and so did Obi-Wan. "...Passable." She finished, as a rather large spider rapelled down from a chandelier, pondered the two of them for a moment, then scurried back up as fast as it's little legs could take it.

"...That would be accurate." Obi-Wan agreed.

Without another word Ventress swept out of the kitchen, and Obi-Wan wondered a moment whether he'd somehow returned to an academy filled with teenagers, rather than a fortress for dark-side Force users. He was pretty certain he might have, as Darc entered the room, made a noise akin to a squeak, and hurriedly left as fast as he'd come.

Having easily reached his limit of patience for Acolytes for the moment, Obi-Wan snatched the first edible looking thing from the cabinets and left, making it back to his room rather quickly and breathing a sigh of relief when he didn't encounter anyone else along the way.

An hour or so later, and he was a bit bored. Boredom was not something he was particularly used to feeling, so he wasn't really sure what to do with it, not to mention that he was torn between looking for something to do and just waiting as Quinlan would probably be finished speaking with Dooku soon.

Perfectly timed, there was the now familiar chime at his door that signaled someone wanted in. Checking with the Force just to make sure it wasn't Ventress or someone else annoying, he found that it was indeed Quinlan and Khaleen and allowed them in.

Quinlan entered the room, Khaleen behind him, looking around appreciatively. "Well, this certainly doesn't look like a Sith's room." The Kiffar commented, taking in the gentle blues, browns, and creams.

Obi-Wan shrugged slightly, regarding his friend as he tried to gain any hint as to Quinlan's motives. The Force was telling him the Acolyte was still the same Quinlan he'd always known, but if he wasn't and was now truly immersed in the dark side, telling him that Obi-Wan was only posing as a Sith would not be a good choice.

"So." Quinlan said, leaning against the wall casually as Khaleen took a seat on the chair at Obi-Wan's desk. "I wouldn't have imagined you as a part of all this."

"Likewise." Obi-Wan responded, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Care to explain?"

"Me? How about _you_? You're the Sith." Quinlan scoffed.

"Yes, and as Khaleen pointed out earlier that means I outrank you. Therefore you go first."

Quinlan raised an eyebrow. "Your well-reasoned logic isn't really intimidating, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow as well; it seemed he had another Acolyte to add to his 'doesn't take me seriously' list. "I don't particularly care, Quin. Explain."

Quinlan sighed, but didn't argue farther. "I joined Dooku not long ago. I don't agree with the way the Republic is being managed, and if I am on the side of the Separatists, perhaps I can help in bringing about reform with only a minimal conflict."

"That sounded rather rehearsed." Obi-Wan commented, raising an eyebrow slightly. Quinlan had seemed, for all intents and purposes, sincere enough. However, Obi-Wan had known him for over twenty years, and he wasn't fooled that easily. Quinlan was lying, and only slightly better than himself and Dooku. "You're not really an Acolyte, are you." He asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.

Quinlan stared seriously at him, seeming almost shocked at the blunt statement, before looking at Khaleen who now seemed rather worried. "You're a bit too good at reading people." The Kiffar muttered at Obi-Wan, nodding once and looking back at him. "And now I'm going to hope that I was correct in my assessment of you, as well."

"That depends entirely on what your assessment was." Obi-Wan responded, trying not to smile at finding Quinlan was still as much of a Jedi as he was. "But it seems our situations are rather similar."

Quinlan's eyebrows shot up, and Khaleen turned her attention towards Obi-Wan in surprise. Obi-Wan looked over at her, then back to Quinlan. "I am still a Jedi as well. I am posing as a Sith to discover the identity of Darth Sidious."

"And you've fooled Dooku?" Quinlan asked, ceasing to lean against the wall and now standing up straight, looking at his friend intently. "You seemed pretty casual with him before."

"Dooku is in on it; we're working together. Quinlan, I shouldn't have to stress how important it is that no one finds out about this." Obi-Wan told him, looking just as intently back at the other Jedi.

"You don't." Quinlan agreed. "I won't tell anyone, and neither will Khaleen."

"Right." Khaleen nodded her agreement as well. She smiled. "I knew you were a bit too nice to be a Sith."

"She's got a point." Quinlan commented, raising an eyebrow and regarding Obi-Wan. "You're not really very frightening."

"That's what Dooku said." Obi-Wan said, sighing slightly.

"Scary doesn't seem to be something that would come naturally to you." Khaleen commented, still smiling lightly. "Which might not be good for trying to convince people you're a big bad Sith, but is nice to see otherwise. Too many people find that unkindness comes easily."

The Jedi looked at her for a moment, a bit surprised, then turned his attention back towards Quinlan. "And you somehow found someone like this during your shady underworld dealings?"

Quinlan chuckled, crossing the room to put and arm around Khaleen. "Lucky, aren't I?"

Obi-Wan just smiled and shook his head slightly in amusement, not entirely sure what to do with Quinlan sometimes. It seemed the other Jedi was just as enamoured with Khaleen as she was with him, and that was dangerous, but Obi-Wan couldn't bring himself to remind Quinlan of the rules against attachment. Especially not now, as they weren't supposed to be following said rules anyway, or at least not appear as if they were.

"So, what should I call you?" Khaleen asked, changing the subject as she was almost blushing, and Quinlan nodded to show he wanted to know the same.

"'Obi-Wan' is fine, for both of you." Obi-Wan told them. "It's what all the other Acolytes call me, so they won't think twice about it."

"They don't take you very seriously, do they?" Quinlan asked, raising an eyebrow and looking amused. "Skorr certainly didn't seem to be afraid you were going to take his head off."

"I'm not entirely certain Skorr has a large enough concentration of brain cells to make it _worth_ removing his head. Perhaps he knows that." Obi-Wan responded, earning an unlady-like snort from Khaleen.

"Entirely possible." Quinlan agreed."Though I could put the fear of your lectures in him. 'Careful; provoke Obi-Wan too far and he will cause you a slow, torturous death by talking.'" He said lazily, a small smirk on his face.

"Whatever works." Obi-Wan replied, amused. It was quite nice to have Quinlan around, especially a Quinlan that was not actually an Acolyte. While Obi-Wan was getting used to being around Dooku, and much to his dismay was finding he actually _liked_ talking to the Sith, it was not the same as having a friend and fellow Jedi.

"Okay, I don't know about the two of you, but I'm hungry." Quinlan commented, stretching slightly. "I'm going to the kitchen to look for something I can both eat and throw at Skorr if the need arises."

Khaleen laughed and it took Obi-Wan a great deal of effort not to do the same. "I'm coming with you, Quin." The purple haired woman said, getting out of the chair and locking arms with Quinlan.

"I ate while you were giving your report, and Dooku will likely be here soon." Obi-Wan told them. "So I'm going to remain here for the moment, though if you do throw anything at Skorr you will have to tell me about it later."

"Got it." Quinlan agreed, smirking again before leading Khaleen from the room. Obi-Wan just shook his head as they left.

Soon after, Dooku arrived and Obi-Wan briefly debated messing with him by refusing to open the door, but decided with a distinct sense of guilt that the Acolytes were rubbing off on him and changed his mind. Letting the Sith in, Dooku entered the room, taking his usual seat at the desk before regarding Obi-Wan with what was probably as cheerful expression as the Sith ever got. "Skorr's report was... Amusing, to say the least." He told his apprentice, sounding as though he was having a bit too much fun with this.

"Oh?" Obi-Wan inquired. "For some reason, I am not surprised. Skorr is easy enough to get along with, but he is a bit less than helpful."

"You had to save him, didn't you?" Dooku asked, sighing and shaking his head.

"Well, yes." The Knight admitted.

"Skorr is perfectly competent, and yet he acts as though he is not." Dooku lamented. "He is a good Acolyte, though he would be far better if he did things himself without needing others' help. And if he would work with Vos."

"Yes, it was quite obvious they were less than fond of each other." Obi-Wan agreed. "Though they refrained from killing each other during the flight back."

"I should award them gold stars for good behavior." Dooku responded with a nod, before moving on. "What is _your_ opinion on Alliga?"

"It would be suitable for another base, it seems." Obi-Wan responded, shrugging slightly and folding his arms. "Though it is inhabited by rashtahs, extremely foggy, active enough in the Force that it can be confusing, and Skorr would complain the entire time."

"All valid reasons not to relocate there." Dooku commented. "We'll consider some other planets, then. Alliga isn't the only option."

Obi-Wan nodded in agreement, before changing the subject. "What was the project you needed Ventress' help on, while I was gone?"

"Paperwork. I needed her to have some documents sent to me." Dooku responded evenly, and Obi-Wan refrained from raising an eyebrow at what felt clearly like a half-truth. Again, like many times before, he wanted to call the Sith on it, but instead chose to accept it for the moment and move on.

"She was dusting the kitchen when I went in there, you know."

"Really?" Dooku asked, raising his eyebrows slightly. He considered a moment. "I suppose that's a good use of her initiative."

Obi-Wan shook his head in amusement. "I suppose. She said that it was more or less your idea."

"Of course it was." Dooku responded lightly. "If not for Tann and I, nothing would ever be cleaned. There are no housekeeping droids here, and the battle droids make useless maids."

"Anakin attempted to program a remote training droid to clean, once." Obi-Wan said, smiling slightly at the memory. "It deemed Master Windu's boots dirty and so chased him through the halls, blasting away at him."

Dooku smiled as well. "A pity I wasn't there for that. I sounds as though it was something to behold."

"It was, though Master Windu wasn't very pleased with us afterwards." Obi-Wan affirmed. "Of course, it was slightly difficult to take him seriously when he was covered in scorch marks. And his boots really _were_ filthy."

Dooku almost laughed at that, standing up. "You have reminded me of something. Come on." He said, gesturing slightly for the Knight to follow him before beginning towards the door. Obi-Wan didn't move, other than raising his eyebrow in the abrupt delcaration.

"Where are we going?"

"Must you be difficult all the time?" Dooku asked, stopping and turning around, shaking his head in amusement. "We're going to the training room."

Obi-Wan raised the other eyebrow. "Really?" He asked, standing as well and taking a few steps to catch up with Dooku.

"Yes. Why do you always ask me that?" Dooku asked lightly, looking down at him as they both left the room and began down the hall. "I'm going to start giving you a false answer first, simply so I can answer 'no'."

"And you say that _I_ am the difficult one of us?" Obi-Wan responded, shaking his head slightly. "I ask because you tend to tell me what seems like the least likely response you can think of."

"There's nothing unlikely about going to the training room." Dooku said, as if it were obvious.

"Usually, no, there wouldn't be." Obi-Wan agreed, following Dooku down the hallway. "Though I believe the general situation does make it less likely."

"I suppose." Dooku conceded, though he sounded as though he was more agreeing just to agree than anything else, not that Obi-Wan particularly minded.

"Why _are_ we going to the training room?" Obi-Wan asked after a moment. "Is there a particular reason?"

"You're bored, aren't you?" Dooku asked him, looking back and slowing down slightly so the Knight wouldn't have to work to keep up.

"...Yes." Obi-Wan confirmed eventually, trying to remember if he told Dooku that at any point.

"Then I thought it might be interesting for us to spar. Our last fight was under less than pleasant circumstances, after all, so a friendly match would be good for us. I would also like to give you some instruction on Makashi, as you seem well suited to it as well as apparently destined to fight everyone with a lightsabre." Dooku explained.

The Knight didn't think he had a particularly good argument for that, even if he'd wanted one. Truthfully, he was rather interested in the idea of learning some Makashi; it was a rather unique form, and would be a good addition to his usual combination of Soresu and Ataru.

"Alright." Obi-Wan finally agreed with a nod. Perhaps, after some sparring and lightsabre practice, he would have a good opportunity and some idea of how to broach the subject of Sidious' identity again.

They reached the training room a few minutes later, and in contrast to the rest of the fortress, it was well lit and almost cozy. It was obviously a well-used room, with broken droid parts scattered across the floor, weapons of various types strewn about and creating what was probably a safety hazard, and a large pile of mats were haphazardly stacked on each other in the corner.

Dooku raised an eyebrow at the state of the room, nudging a droid part with the toe of his boot. He looked over at Obi-Wan. "Do you understand what I mentioned about the Acolytes never cleaning?"

"Yes." Obi-Wan responded, picking up a rather large blaster rifle from the floor and turning the safety on before replacing it on a shelf. "They're also less than organized."

"I hadn't noticed." Dooku replied, using the Force to collect the droid parts and everything else on the floor into a pile and shove them all into the corner. Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

As the floor was now clear, they had enough room to try sparring. Both adjusted their lightsabres, turning down the settings so they wouldn't accidentally injure each other, stepping to opposite sides of the room.

Dooku flashed the Makashi salute and Obi-Wan adopted a casual ready stance, watching carefully as he waited for Dooku to move. He didn't. They both stood there for a good thirty seconds, staring at each other, before Dooku finally spoke up. "You're being decidedly less aggressive than last time."

"There are multiple good reasons for that." Obi-Wan responded, not moving from the ready position.

"Well, one of us has to go first." Dooku said, earning a slight shrug from Obi-Wan.

"Go ahead, then."

Dooku sighed, obviously seeing this was just heading towards an endless stand-off. "What is the cause of this hesitancy from you?"

"I am a Jedi, and I use Soresu. I'm _supposed_ to be hesitant."

"Is that so? I had thought that you practiced Ataru. You certainly didn't look like you were using Soresu when we fought before."

"Dooku, I was more than slightly displeased with you when we fought before. I was not as inclined to be patient and defensive."

"What you mean to say is that you lost your temper." Dooku responded, raising an eyebrow.

"That is not..." Obi-Wan started to protest, then decided it really wasn't worth denying. "Fine. Yes."

The Sith seemed amused. "I can understand your disdain for the dark side now, you know. If you fight like that when you're angry, you would make a terrible Sith."

"Thank you for that assessment, Dooku. I would never have guessed." Obi-Wan responded, unable to help but roll his eyes slightly. "I thought I was perfectly suited for it otherwise."

"I'm sorry, but it simply isn't for you." Dooku continued lightly. "Though we appreciate your interest."

The Knight just shook his head, trying not laugh. "Are we going to bother to actually sparring, or are we going to simply talk each other into submission?"

"With the two of us? Quite possibly the latter." Dooku responded, looking as though he was seriously considering the question. "Though we could do that without the lightsabres."

"Yes, and I rather like the lightsabres." Obi-Wan agreed. "So we may as well use them."

"If you'd like." Dooku said amiably. "Though perhaps if we stepped within arms' distance so one of us could strike without moving and making it obvious, we would actually bother to _do_ so."

"A good idea, though your arms are longer than mine."

"Details." Dooku waved him off casually, walking over to usual dueling distance. As soon as he was close enough Obi-Wan slashed gracefully at the Count, though Dooku easily deflected it, and the match was on.

Instead of falling fully into his usual Soresu, Obi-Wan began to pay close attention to the sharp strikes and stabs Dooku made, subtly changing his own style to mimic his as much as possible. When Dooku stabbed forward, Obi-Wan parried upwards, locking their sabres together between them.

"Isn't this what always happens?" Dooku asked, as they both called on the Force to enhance their strength in an attempt to win the lock.

"Unfortunately." Obi-Wan responded, having a difficult time maintaining his ground as Dooku's superior height was of great aid to the Sith. "I am not particularly fond of it."

"You're not particularly good at it, either." Dooku commented lightly in response, prompting Obi-Wan to duck out of the lock and spin around to behind him, slashing at an angle at his back. Dooku spun as well and stepped back at the same time, ending up evading the cut and facing the Jedi at arm's distance once again.

"Are you going to use Dun Möch the entire time?" Obi-Wan asked him, raising an eyebrow and holding his sabre up at ready again. "If so, I'm going to warn you that it's a waste of breath, as it's far more difficult for me to take you seriously now than last time."

"I suppose it wouldn't be very useful." Dooku conceded. "I must admit I was surprised it worked so well on Geonosis."

"As mentioned, I was already a bit edgy with you." Obi-Wan responded. Then he sighed. "And we've done it again."

"What, devolved into conversation?" Dooku asked, earning a nod in response. The Sith looked amused. "So we have. It seems we can't stay on task if there's no incentive, so why don't we add some? If you win, you can have... Something. Whatever you can think of. If I win, you have to wake up all the Acolytes tomorrow."

"If you're making that a wager, it must be worse than it sounds." Obi-Wan commented, considering a moment. "And why do they need to be awaken? Shouldn't they wake _themselves_ up?"

"They're Acolytes. There are a great deal of things they should do on their own and yet have to be told to nevertheless." Dooku responded, shrugging elegantly. "Do we have a deal?"

"Aren't you at all concerned about what I might choose as my reward for winning?" Obi-Wan asked him incredulously.

"No." Dooku said, then gave a rather evil looking smile. "I'm not intending to let you win."

"It is not up to you to _let_ me." Obi-Wan replied lightly, smiling slightly in challenge. "As I am going to all on my own."

"You might if you stop talking for a moment." Dooku sent back, before making the first move this time with a small, controlled strike that Obi-Wan casual batted away. The next was low and the Jedi leapt up rather than parry it, giving him the height to strike down the Sith.

Dooku blocked the swing high over his head and rather than come down as one would normally, Obi-Wan used the leverage of the connected sabres as something akin to a springboard, flipping up and over Dooku to land lightly behind him before swinging a blow that was neatly caught by the Sith.

"That was rather fancy. Remember what I mentioned about showing off?" Dooku commented, an eyebrow quirked an amusement.

"And I believe I told you I wasn't showing off, which again is the case." Obi-Wan replied. "However, this _is_ showing off." The Knight said, using the Force to leap up again, this time far higher than before. He alighted gently on top of one of the large chandeliers that were everywhere in the fortress, peering down over the side at Dooku.

"Indeed it is." Dooku agreed, looking up. "And those chandeliers are sturdier than I expected. Now get back down here."

"I rather like the view." Obi-Wan replied lightly, with only a hint of teasing in his voice. "I get to look down at you."

"Enjoy it while you can." Dooku responded. "After all, you have so few opportunities to look down at _anyone_."

"That was _low_." The Jedi said, prompting Dooku to shake his head in wonderment.

"You actually have a sense of humor that isn't simply biting sarcasm or overly dry comments?" The Sith marveled, only to get the expected dry response in return.

"No, of course not."

Dooku shook his head again, amused. "Come back down and let's continue the match, or it will go on all night at this rate."

Obi-Wan stepped off the back of the chandelier, dropping back to the floor easily and resuming his ready stance. "Alright." He said to signal he was ready again, before making the first move himself and slashing in a close backhanded sweep upwards across Dooku's chest. The Sith blocked it by turning his sabre to the side, catching the other blade in a low sabre lock they both backed out of immediately.

Dooku stabbed forward and Obi-Wan caught the strike, turning it away, but Dooku turned the stab into a swing back at the Knight. Obi-Wan followed it and blocked, but yet again their sabres locked, with Obi-Wan's blue blade pointed towards the ground and Dooku's crossed with it horizontally. Dooku was easily winning the standoff, and deciding the time had come for desperate measures Obi-Wan concentrated, reaching out with the Force and neatly crushing the power cell in Dooku's lightsabre. The red blade shorted out immediately, and Dooku's expression was rather comical for an instant before the Sith regained his composure. But it was too late, and Obi-Wan's lightsabre was already pointed directly over his heart.

"I believe I win." Obi-Wan stated, deactivating his lightsabre and taking a few steps back.

"I seems as though that is the case, yes." Dooku conceded, still a bit surprised. "Though you're quite the underhanded fighter."

"Yes, well, we never said anything about using or not using the Force." Obi-Wan replied with a slight shrug.

"I suppose, though I must admit Obi-Wan, you would be the last person I ever expected to fight dirty." Dooku commented, his words seeming a bit miffed though his tone was amused. "You seem to be the perfect Jedi in so many ways, and yet you quite obviously don't hold much to the honorable code of swordsmanship."

"And hence why I am still alive." Obi-Wan responded, rather matter of factly. "Though a nice concept in theory, and one I do like to adhere to if possible, 'honorable swordsmanship' is not always effective in a real fight."

"I suppose." Dooku repeated, though he didn't sound convinced as his opened the control panel of his lightsabre to inspect the damage. "Though if you can't win fighting honorably, then perhaps the solution is simply to develop your skills farther."

"Oh yes, because there's always time for that. I had a considerable great deal of time to plan and train for facing a Sith on Naboo, after all." Obi-Wan said, only barely refraining from rolling his eyes. "I told him, 'Wait a moment; I'm not suited to fight you yet, and I wouldn't want to use underhanded tactics to defeat you.'"

"Alright, perhaps there are some exceptions." Dooku conceded, sighing.

"Besides, Dooku, I wouldn't consider your fighting to be perfectly honorable either." Obi-Wan continued, giving him a pointed look. "Perhaps it was today, but dropping a pillar on someone is more than slightly underhanded, especially considering neither Anakin or I were still in the fight when you did that Geonosis."

"You still haven't forgiven me for that, have you?"

The Knight raised his eyebrows slightly and gave Dooku an incredulous expression. "Should I have? Oh, and we mustn't forget that eloquent move of stabbing me through a sabrelock. I don't remember learning that tactic in any of my classes, and I've had quite a few."

"Alright, Obi-Wan. Enough."

"There was also the Force Lightning. We can't forget that, either."

"Obi-Wan, I understand. You may stop now."

"I have more."

"I'm sure you do." Dooku responded with a sigh. "You will be displeased to hear this, but with your talent for arguing you would have made an excellent politician."

"You insult me." Obi-Wan responded, with only a hint of mock affrontment. "Though I prefer to call it debating."

"And you're doing it again." Dooku pointed out, apparently deeming the lightsabre fixable and placing it back onto his belt. "Besides, a politition _would_ call it debating."

Obi-Wan had no good counter to that, especially considering that continuing would only prove Dooku's point farther, so he just glared at the Sith instead.

"You're getting better at that." Dooku commented.

"I'm having a great deal of opportunity for practice." Obi-Wan responded.

"I imagine." Dooku replied, amused. This he became serious again, and he looked at the Knight with an almost exasperated expression. "Alright, what is it?" He asked, and Obi-Wan gave him a slightly confused look.

"What is what?" He asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"You've been wanting to speak with me about something, haven't you? What is it?" Dooku elaborated, gesturing casually.

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow, surprised by the sudden, and accurate, change in conversation. "And why would you have such an idea?"

"I can almost hear you thinking." Dooku responded, sounding slightly amused. "Literally. But it's rather obvious you have something you've been wanting to ask."

Obi-Wan frowned slightly at that, still inwardly a bit surprised. He and Dooku were rapidly getting a bit too good at sensing each other's intentions and emotions, and the Jedi was beginning to wonder if they had formed a delicate Force bond in such a short time. "I wanted to speak with you again about Sidious."

"I already gave you my answer on that." Dooku reminded him, all traces of the earlier humor gone and his expression serious again.

"I know that you have." Obi-Wan responded, placing his own lightsabre back on his belt and folding his arms. "But I am not going to ask you to tell me who he is. I am going to ask that you confirm or deny the suspicion I have."

Dooku seemed almost surprised, though his expression changed very little. "You have a suspicion of who he might be?"

"Yes." The Jedi affirmed, nodding once to accent his words. "I would like you to tell me if I am correct." It was more for ease than anything else, as Obi-Wan was quickly becoming confident he would be able to tell if he was right or not simply by sensing Dooku's reaction.

Dooku considered this a moment, before nodding once as well. "If you are correct, I will tell you." He agreed, looking at his apprentice. "However, I will also tell you that it might be best if you did not guess. If you do know who Sidious is, it will complicate matters."

"Your matters, or mine?" Obi-Wan asked, and when Dooku didn't answer, he knew the answer and decided to continue. "Everything points to one person." He said, carefully choosing the words before he spoke them. "Every time there was Sith activity, he benefitted. Things he has said and done, his choices and viewpoints... The way that the Force feels correct around him, and yet still somehow seems wrong."

"And who is this person?" Dooku asked him quietly, looking seriously at the Knight.

Obi-Wan was silent a moment, watching Dooku's expression carefully before replying. "Palpatine."

Dooku's gaze was even, but Obi-Wan felt a spark of surprise from the Sith. The silence continued for a few moments, before Dooku finally spoke. "He always said that if anyone were to figure it out, it would be you."

In those words, Obi-Wan's galaxy crashed down. "...Are you saying I _am_ correct? That's... Not possible." He said faintly.

Dooku raised an eyebrow. "What isn't possible, that you're correct? We need to work on your self-esteem."

"No, not that." The Jedi said, sounding a bit annoyed even in his shock. "It can't be Palpatine. It was simply a guess; if it was Palpatine, then the Council would know."

"The Council is blind when it comes to the Sith. Otherwise, they would have believed Qui-Gon when he told them that they had returned." Dooku said coldly, turning away slightly and scowling at the floor.

"But this can't be." Obi-Wan insisted, though he knew he was speaking from disbelief rather than logic. "He is Anakin's friend, Dooku. Do you mean to tell me that..." He trailed off, staring into the distance a moment before he turned his focus again towards Dooku. "You said, at the very beginning of all this, that you were concerned that you would be replaced." He said, shaking his head slightly in denial about what he was about to say. "...Sidious, no, _Palpatine_... He intends to replace you with _Anakin_."

Dooku looked back over at him, and nodded somberly. "Yes."

"No." Obi-Wan responded, conveniently ignoring that it was him who proposed the idea in the first place. "I don't believe you."

"You must, because it is the truth. And there is more, which may well be worse." Dooku continued.

"I'm failing to think of anything that could be worse than this, Dooku." Obi-Wan said dully, his voice taking on a flat tone.

"He has something else planned." Dooku responded seriously. "I don't know of the specifics, but there is something. Something he intends to use to destroy the entire Order, and we must find out what it is _before_ he uses it, and _before_ he is exposed as a Sith. If the Council or anyone in the Order is told that Palpatine is Sidious, they will act immediately, and they will doom everyone."

"I cannot let him continue being around Anakin." Obi-Wan responded, shaking his head.

"Obi-Wan, Palpatine and Skywalker have known each other for ten years and your Padawan has not been harmed yet. He will be safe for now, as long as we do nothing to alert Palpatine to the fact that you know of his identity, and at the moment that includes informing the Council. He will know it was you."

Obi-Wan wasn't really listening to him, more focused on the implications of what this all meant. "It was all for nothing. Geonosis, and the Jedi that have given their lives in this fabricated war..."

"It isn't for nothing." Dooku responded vehemently. "The Republic _is_ corrupt. It _does_ need to be rebuilt."

"As what, a Sith-controlled dictatorship?" Obi-Wan asked, looking back at him. "That's not _better_, Dooku."

"At least something would get done." Dooku countered. "I know you have no love lost for politicians and their games; certainly you would understand that the Rebublic does not work."

"Whether the Rebublic works or not is not the issue!" The Jedi argued. "The issue is that the galaxy is at war for no reason other than to make it easy to put a Sith into power. How do you believe the Republic will function after that? The answer is not at all, as it will no longer exist, and neither will the Jedi Order. You have deluded yourself into believing you are doing the right thing, but that is not so."

"Obi-Wan. I do not want Sidious ruling either, and in fact have no intention of allowing it to happen. Have you forgotten the entire point of this ruse?"

Obi-Wan stared at the other, frowning slightly. "And than what?"

"What do you mean?" Dooku asked him.

"And then what? Would a new Chancellor be elected? Or did you have another plan in mind?" Obi-Wan asked, and Dooku was quiet, confirming what he suspected. "_You _were intending to declare yourself Chancellor, if you could."

"Until order and activity could be restored, yes." Dooku responded, sounding entirely reasonable as though it was nothing particularly outlandish. "I wish to _fix_ the Republic, not take it over. That is Palpatine's desire."

"You both intend the same result, which is a galaxy managed how _you_ wish for it to be, rather than for the best of those in it." Obi-Wan shot back, frustrated.

"That is not true." Dooku said, frowning as he looked down at the Jedi. "I could retire and live peacefully on my home planet Serenno, doing whatever I wish, if I wanted only what was the best for me. I am doing what must be done for the Republic and the galaxy."

"A war is not what must be done." Obi-Wan insisted, though he felt lost and unsure of what _was_ to be done. "Neither is supporting Sidious in his mockery of the government."

"And we will end both." Dooku said gently. "When it is time, and we have discovered his plans against the Order, we will be able to bring every Jedi in the galaxy down upon him. He will be removed from office, if not killed outright, and the war will end if the next Chancellor is capable of bothering with peace talks. The Republic will realize how easily they have been misled by their corrupt system, and changes will be made. Everything will turn out for the best."

"That is a lovely picture you paint, Dooku." Obi-Wan responded. "But it is the best one possible."

"And it is what we must work towards. There is no other choice. We cannot back out now and redo everything; we must continue to move forward." Dooku told him, tone still calm and reassuring, though it was having the opposite of the intended effect.

Obi-Wan shook his head slightly, but he knew Dooku was right. If he gave the Order any information about Sidious' identity, and they did _anything_ about it, Sidious would know and would have a chance to retaliate with whatever he had planned. He had to be allowed to remain as he was, for the moment at least. As for Dooku, Obi-Wan no longer had any idea what side the Sith was on, if any. He had suddenly become just as unknown to him as he had been before he'd ever met him.

And the question still remained. What was he going to do now?


	9. Chapter 9

**AN:** Oh sheesh. I know, I know, this took FOREVER. But I've got good excuses this time! I got a 45 hour a week job, and I move into my first apartment on October 1st, so I've been busy. :P Fanfiction, unfortunatly, got pushed to the side, and my poor poor original fiction novel hasn't been touched in so long. XD

ANYWAY. I realize now that Deceptions is going to be a bit shorter than I planned; maybe 13 chapters. The plot advanced faster than I expected, because at first I had intended for it to be laden with much more filler material. But I decided I don't like filler and so moved the plot along, and now we're really going. Not to mention I had a few huge scary chapters in there.

Oh, and once again I've been afraid to reread the chapter for fear of editing and never updating. :P So this is unbeta'd, srzly. Go ahead and and point out mistakes, but please forgive me for them.

So that's that. Sorry again for how long it took! I can't make promises on the length of time until the next update, but having my own place should mean more peace and time to write, with any luck. :) Thanks to all my readers and reviewers, who inspire me to keep working on my projects even with all the other stuff going on!

* * *

**Deceptions; chapter 9**  
by: Amrita Glittersong

Obi-Wan frowned in concentration at the mass of colored wires in his hands, before sleceting two to carefully place together. They made a bright shower of sparks and the Knight jumped in surprise, dropping the wires and checking to make sure he hadn't been burned.

After assessing that he'd escaped any serious injury, he sighed in annoyance and returned to the task at hand, slightly miffed at how out of practice he'd gotten at rewiring. With a Padawan like Anakin around all the time, he tended to sit back and let Anakin show off his various skills; it made the Padawan happy, and Obi-Wan didn't mind letting him be the one to shine. However, he was now beginning to think he should have bothered keeping up with some practice on the side, at least.

A now familiar chime sounded through the room, and with an only half interested sweep of the Force Obi-Wan easily found it was no one he felt like talking to. A light mental shove through the bond he shared with Dooku made it clear he wanted him to go away, though he wasn't shocked in the slightest when the Sith ignored it and entered the room anyway.

"And what exactly was the point of the chime?" Obi-Wan asked, not looking back. "Or the scanner lock, for that matter."

"Asajj was complaining that her holoprojector was shorting out. As it wasn't the only thing malfunctioning, and none of the Acolytes are daring enough to try rewiring anything, I imagined it might be your doing." Dooku replied, entirely ignoring the remarks and regarding the Knight's haphazard project incredulously. "What _are_ you doing?"

"Tormenting Ventress, apparently." Obi-Wan responded immediately, trying another set of wires. When nothing happened, the joined them together and went to the next set.

"It _looks_ as though you're hot-wiring the communications console." Dooku commented, unfazed. "Though, as it works--or should I say, 'worked'--I cannot see the purpose. If you're just bored, I'm sure there's something less dangerous and more useful to be doing."

"I'm pulling it off the main lines." Obi-Wan explained patiently, finally sparing a glance back at Dooku.

"Alright." Dooku said, sounding only the slightest bit confused. "Dare I ask _why_?"

"Because then I can re-encode it." Obi-Wan said, his tone seeming vaguely disinterested as he focused on what he was doing rather than on the conversation.

"So that you may send a secure transmission?" Dooku continued.

"Yes." Obi-Wan confirmed, successfully matching a few more wires. "Of course, Sidious and Palpatine being one and the same, it suddenly make sense why the clones would be sent here; they're _his_ army. Though if he intercepted my transmission, which he did have the capability for, he would know at the very least that I was only pretending to be a Sith, and that I was pretending and you were in on it at the worst." He looked at Dooku again. "As he hasn't stormed in here yet, I would imagine he only caught the end of my transmission if anything at all. Enough to know that he should go ahead and torment me, but nothing worse."

"So you believe that he knows you're not a Sith, but that is all? Nothing of my involvement?"

"Yes, or that he believes I am playing both sides against the middle. Or, I suppose, that I've set up some elaborate plan to convince the Jedi that I'm undercover, while all the while actually spying on them for the Sith. Though that would probably be giving me far too much credit."

"He said nothing to me of any suspicions of you, when I spoke with him." Dooku commented, looking serious as he considered the situation. "Nor of any suspicions of me. We may still be in a good enough position to continue as normal, though perhaps with added precautions."

"Anything that doesn't end up getting us killed before I can inform the Council of his identity is acceptable to me." Obi-Wan replied, finishing with his wiring and beginning to tap buttons on the console.

Dooku seemed to agree with that sentiment, then frowned slightly at the Knight. "How, dare I ask, do you know how to do this?" He inquired, watching the lines of elaborate encoding appear on the screen and his apprentice typed.

"You see, Dooku, once upon a time there was an initiate who had too much time on his hands." Obi-Wan explained, not bothering to look up.

"I see where this is going." Dooku responded, almost rolling his eyes. "Don't tell me that _you_ were responsible for the Great Fatal Archive Error."

"I won't, then." Obi-Wan responded, eyes still focused on the screen as he worked. "Why would I cause such a thing, after all?"

"I've noticed that initiates who are intelligent enough to complete their studies so quickly that they have a lot of spare time also tend to be the same ones who come up with the most elaborate pranks." Dooku said, sounding as if he was speaking from far too much experience.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Obi-Wan replied, sounding distracted.

"That, and Qui-Gon told me you tended to get yourself into trouble." Dooku added, this time earning a glance back from the Jedi.

"Oh, did he?" Obi-Wan asked lightly, tone almost amused.

"Yes; not that he was a particularly well-behaved Padawan all the time himself." Dooku responded. "It wasn't as though he actively attempted to cause problems, but he seemed to attract them, as you do."

"A trait that you and Anakin share in abundance as well." Obi-Wan commented, the console beeping happily at him as he began compiling the code.

"Indeed." Dooku agreed. Then he frowned again. "Who are you going to be using that to call? I thought that you had agreed not to contact anyone about Sidious."

"Perhaps." Obi-Wan replied, mood darkening slightly at Dooku's inquiry, as he turned back to what he was doing. "Though that has nothing to do with speaking to people for any other reason. And not to mention that who I am contacting is none of your concern."

"Well, then." Dooku said, as if he were speaking to a rebellious teenager. "Have your way for now. If your plan improves things, then I encourage you."

"And you have no idea what that means to me."

"I'm sure you're touched, yes?"

"Quite. Now leave."

Dooku just shook his head, smiling faintly, as he left the room. Obi-Wan frowned after him, wondering what had amused him so much, before turning back towards the console and making a very long distance call.

* * *

Padme Amidala had just returned from another long day at the Senate and was in all together bad mood, as not only had the senators done nothing but argue all day, her husband wouldn't be joining her that evening. When she stepped into the apartment, she was intending on taking a bath and then sulking around the rest of the night, eating food that wasn't good for her. Instead, Typho told her she had a transmission marked as urgent, encoded in a complicated pattern that she knew only Anakin and Obi-Wan used.

Her heart leapt, as she thought perhaps Anakin had been able to get away from the Temple after all, so she rushed into her room and activated the holo transmission. As she turned it on, her heart did a quick 180 as she noticed it wasn't Anakin calling, before it turned and went right back up as she recognized who it _was_.

"Obi-Wan!" She exclaimed, shocked but overjoyed to see the Knight. She'd been unable to avoid worrying about him, especially as Anakin had told her it had been nearly two days since the Council had received any communication.

"Padme." Obi-Wan responded, smiling faintly. "I see I was correct in believing Anakin would have informed you of my new 'allegiance'."

"Yes, he did." Padme replied with a nod. "I'm so glad to see you. Anakin and I have been so worried."

Obi-Wan smiled again. "Well, aside from an encounter with Sidious, some bickering with the Dark Acolytes, and Dooku's insufferable habit of leaving out important pieces of information, I'm doing better than I had expected to be. I am... More concerned for you and Anakin, and for the Temple."

Padme frowned at that, taking the seat in front of the transmitter that she'd ignored in her surprise. "Why; what's going on?"

Obi-Wan seemed to consider his words carefully before speaking. "I want you to be careful in the Senate, Padme. I can't tell you exactly why, but be very careful of what you do and say, and who you keep company with."

Padme nodded slowly, not understanding, but certain her friend had a very god reason for telling her something like this. "I will, Obi-Wan. I already am; some things have begun to become very strange..."

"I'm not surprised." Obi-Wan told her with a sigh. "Padme, there is something else I must ask of you."

"Of course." Padme replied, nodding for him to continue. "What is it?"

"Watch Anakin for me." He said, gazing intently at her and she suddenly knew that he _knew_.

"I will. I promise. Until you get back, and even after, I will watch over him. I would without you needing to ask." She promised. She didn't know exactly what Anakin needed protecting from, but she didn't care. She would face a Sith Lord alone before she let anything happen to her husband.

"I know." Obi-Wan said, inclining his head slightly at her and smiling. "Please tell him hello for me, but it would be for the best if you didn't tell him much else of what we spoke of. It isn't that I don't trust Anakin, but the less he knows, the better everyone will be."

"I don't want to lie to him." Padme responded, looking at him seriously.

Obi-Wan considering this a moment, before speaking again. "Then tell him that I asked for both of you to be careful. It is the truth, from a certain point of view."

"In other words, it's not a lie." Padme said dryly, earning a slightly mischievous smile in response.

"Exactly, milady."

"Don't 'milady' me." Padme said, shaking her head in amusement before sighing softly, and looking back at him. "Alright, I agree to your 'certain point of view', on one condition."

"Which would be...?" Obi-Wan asked, becoming serious again as well.

"Don't get yourself killed." Padme said flatly. "I mean it."

"Don't worry, _milady_." Obi-Wan told her. "I don't intend on it."

* * *

Obi-Wan left his room begrudgingly, not really interested in fraternizing with the Acolytes, but unfortunately he didn't have any food in his room. And being a Sith was hungry work.

"Kenobi!" He heard his name shouted sharply from down the hallway, and made no attempt to conceal a sigh of annoyance as Ventress came into sight.

"What is it, Ventress?"

"There was a woman in your room."

"Hasn't Dooku taught you not to start drinking until the evening?" Obi-Wan asked, raising an eyebrow and sweeping past her. Getting to stalk around importantly was quickly becoming the best part of pretending to be a Sith.

"Kenobi." Ventress said, frowning and looking very much like she wanted to have a serious conversation. Obi-Wan might have bothered to listen, if he hadn't known he would regret it.

"Ventress, this is not something I intend to discuss with you, even if I did have any idea what you're talking about." He paused for a moment, thinking. "Oh, did you mean Khaleen?"

"_Yes_." Ventress said, crossing his arms and sweeping down the hall after him as he began walking again. "Her."

"Why, might I ask, do you care who is in my room?" Obi-Wan asked, knowing he should just stop talking and wondering why he had engaged in this conversation against his common sense.

As it was, Ventress apparently had no good answer, and so Obi-Wan was fortunately spared from further talk. It took a few moments before she spoke again. "Where are you going?"

"To ask Dooku to fire you." Obi-Wan told her without missing a beat.

"Clever." The Acolyte responded. "Though even if you _were_ to ask him such a thing, he would never agree."

"I have no doubt about that, though I have yet to see what _he_ sees in you." Obi-Wan said, only half paying attention to the conversation as he reached into the Force. What he had been sensing was indeed confirmed by his concentration; Dooku was loitering about in the kitchen.

Pondering a moment whether he really was hungry anymore, he decided to go ahead. Perhaps Dooku had found something actually recognizable to eat; the Jedi had a feeling Dooku was not as inclined to eat whatever he could find like his apprentice and the Acolytes. With that thought in mind, Obi-Wan determinedly ignored Ventress, who seemed suddenly distracted by something, and entered the kitchen to see Dooku apparently pondering the wallpaper. So much for the hopes of food.

Obi-Wan looked at the wall where Dooku was staring, then back at Dooku. "Dare I ask?"

"Knowing you, you do." Dooku replied, turning to look at the Knight.

Obi-Wan folded his arms but still managed something akin to a shrug of agreement. "Then I do, yes."

"I was waiting for you to finish your little discussion on the comm." The Sith said, walking over so they weren't talking across the room. "I wanted to speak with you when you were in a bit of a better mood."

"Now is not that time." Obi-Wan told him, which just earned him and amused expression from Dooku.

"I said a better mood, not a good one, Obi-Wan. And this qualifies, as you're bothering to look at me when we talk." Dooku responded lightly. "And as I have the distinct impression that is the best I will get, I'm going to take it. This is important, after all."

"Fine." Obi-Wan responded, before turning slightly to look back out into the hallway to see where Ventress had gotten to. She had wandered off, distracted by something or someone, and was no where to be found. Not that Obi-Wan minded in the slightest. "Where do you want to talk?"

"Here is fine." Dooku said with a wave of his hand, before his expression became serious again. "I know you are angry with me, but I trust you understand why I made the decisions I did about what to tell you and when."

Obi-Wan frowned, looking up at him. "I understand that you lied to me."

"I did not." Dooku said, though he didn't sound particularly offended or surprised by the accusation. "What I did was not divulge the entire truth."

Obi-Wan was reminded uncomfortably of the conversation he'd just had with Padme, and could find nothing to say in response.

"But what I told you yesterday, Obi-Wan, _was_ the truth. There were reasons for everything, but and now that we know there is something larger he is planning, we can't afford to expose him for what he is."

"Convenient." Obi-Wan told him, unconvinced.

"I does seem that way, doesn't it?" Dooku said, again unbothered by the remark. "But it is the truth."

"Of course it is." Obi-Wan responded, sounding entirely serious.

"Obi-Wan, listen to me." Dooku said, finally beginning to look slightly exasperated. "I have never lied outright to you. I have withheld information, been deliberately misleading, and various other things, but I have never told you something that was untrue."

"Then tell me that there is nothing more you are hiding from me." Obi-Wan told him, his tone becoming truly serious rather than mockingly.

Dooku regarded him for a moment, their eyes locked, before he spoke. "There is nothing more I am hiding from you."

Obi-Wan looked at him a moment longer, then shook his head. "You're lying."

Dooku just looked at him, silent, and Obi-Wan turned away and paced a few steps. "I will not work with you if you can't

manage such a simple thing as telling the truth."

"Then we have reached an impasse." Dooku said, his tone level but distinctly frosty. "Only the difficulty here, of course, is that Sidious' plans will continue to move forward, whether we are attempting to thwart them or not. It is your choice what we do, Obi-Wan."

"And it is no choice at all." Obi-Wan finished, not bothering to look back as he spoke. After a few moments, he turned slightly towards Dooku. "You know what my answer is. But you should also know that I am not here to be your assistant. If you will not treat me as your ally, then I will not treat you as such either."

"I do not mean to offend you, Obi-Wan, but you don't frighten me." Dooku said flatly. "As you are a Jedi, I know well there are limits you will not cross."

"And yet you don't know me very well at all, Dooku." Obi-Wan said calmly, turning fully towards him. "You tell me how I am like Qui-Gon, and that has blinded you to what I have, much to my dismay, finally realized. You even mentioned it once... _You_ are the one who I am most like. If necessary to protect the Republic, the Order, and Anakin, I will do what I must; with or without regard to what happens to _you_ in the process."

Dooku regarded him, and when he spoke again, his tone had returned to the usual light one he used with Obi-Wan. "I don't know whether to be proud or terrified." He commented, then seemed to make a very difficult decision. "I will explain. Everything. But you must listen, and make your conclusions at the _end_, Obi-Wan."

Obi-Wan considered that, then nodded. "I agree."

Dooku gathered his thoughts, and began. "When we met at that cafe, I had given you honest information. I wanted your help to leave the Sith, and I didn't know that Sidious was going to be arriving. What I didn't tell you is that the reason he accepted the idea of you joining the Sith and breaking the Rule of Two so easily was that I had discussed the subject with him before. He had given permission that, should I somehow convince you to turn, I could take you as my apprentice.

"However, while I did indeed with to leave the Sith, I never intended to rejoin the Jedi, or to disband the Confederacy. The Republic is unsalvagable, which should be apparent as it has elected a Sith Lord as it's leader. I have fully intended to continue the Confederacy, but as a legitimate government, not Sidious' puppet organization designed solely to bring about his plans.

"You, I had hoped I might convince to see that the Republic is not worth the lives being given for it. The Jedi are nothing but expendable tools for an organization run by a Sith, and before that, for whatever Chancellor happened to be in office. The Senators care nothing for the Jedi, who give everything for them. The Confederacy would change that. We are only fighting Jedi because they are on the other side; as you have seen from Skorr, Jedi who wish to join the Confederacy are welcomed into it.

"And so, almost all of what I have told you has been true. I did deceive you about my motives regarding the Confederacy, but not about the Sith. I certainly have no desire to see the Order destroyed by Sidious, as he is somehow planning. And you are free to make your own choices when we reach the end of this, whatever they may be. I don't want you as my enemy, and not simply because I now know you took after _me_, no matter how much that disturbs me." The Sith finally finished, apparently taking a moment to try to gauge Obi-Wan's reaction.

The Knight, meanwhile, felt oddly peaceful. He sensed that this was indeed what Dooku had said it was; the truth. Perhaps not the best truth possible, but one he could work with now that he _knew_ it.

And it all made sense, too. It explained the inconsistencies, the secrecy, the reluctance to give him information. It explained Palpatine's casual acceptance of him, even if he now knew he was faking. It explained why at times Dooku was overly friendly, at other times pure menace, and at others somewhere in between.

"Thank you." Obi-Wan finally said. "At least now I know what I'm dealing with. I make you no promises about your Confederacy or what will happen to it, but right now, don't we have an elaborate Sith plot to foil?"

Dooku actually smiled, walking over and putting a hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder. "Indeed we do."

Obi-Wan smiled as well, nodding his head once. "And who better to foil a Sith plot than other Sith?"

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** Oh sheesh. XD I don't even know where to start with how long this took. I can only say that I feel like I'm at work constantly, so when I get home I just sit and play video games for a few hours until I have to go to bed so I can get up for work. D: THIS IS NOT FUN.

But I finally got this chapter finished. It was a difficult one because it's a set up chapter, however it now means I'm to working on a chapter I actually want to write. Yay, right?

Of course, I wrote this over the span of MONTHS, so I imagine it will be slightly disjointed. I tried to even it all out, but eh. D:

Oh, and lastly, I wanted to mention to all you Hyperspace subscribers that there's a fiction story about Obi-Wan and Dooku's conversation in EP II online now. Very, very interesting, though for the purposes of Deceptions, it didn't happen that way, as well... It changes their relationship in a rather negative way, which wouldn't work for this fic. However, it's definately very interesting, so I recommend it to everyone with a Hyperspace account.

Now, without further ado, I give you chapter 10.

* * *

**Deceptions; chapter 10**  
**by: Amrita Glittersong**

"You're doing it wrong."

"Obviously." Obi-Wan commented dryly. "But I appreciate you informing me in such an eloquent way."

Dooku gave him a slightly irritated look. "Focus, Obi-Wan." He said, sounding rather like a disapproving master.

Obi-Wan gave Dooku a look that clearly conveyed his annoyance, but then nodded and settled back into his ready stance. They clashed their sabres into another lock, complete with Dooku's commentary.

"You're centering your weight incorrectly.." The Sith said, earning yet another glare. "You should be pushing my lightsabre away so you have an opening, not simply opposing whatever direction the force is coming from."

"I know that." Obi-Wan said, refraining from adding that he was finding it difficult not to simply kick Dooku in the shin. After all, though that might work once, it wouldn't help again and he really did need to get better with sabre locks. Not to mention it would go against Obi-Wan attempts at getting his recently volatile temper under control. The Knight was actually beginning to get concerned over his own thoughts and actions as of late. He wasn't certain if it was because he was surrounded by so much of the dark side, or if he was getting a little too far into his acting, or something else entirely, but he was quite looking forward to getting this entire ordeal over with and spending some calming time at the Temple.

"Alright, Obi-Wan." Dooku said patiently. "With the position you're in right now, I can easily repeat what I did before on Geonosis. But if you sidestep and turn your wrists, you have a clear strike at my chest."

Following the instructions, Obi-Wan turned his sabre and stepped to the side slowly, allowing Dooku to avoid actually being hit while they practiced the move. Though they'd both turned down the power settings on their lightsabres, it was best not to take unnecessary chances.

Dooku had suggested the session about an hour earlier, both to practice their skills and to release some of the tension that had been building up, but they'd only really been practicing for twenty minutes or so as the rest of the time had been spent arguing over etiqeutte and exactly what power settings to calibrate to and if this was really a good use of time.

Both were at something of a loss as to how to go about attempting to stop with what Sidious had planned, as they didn't actually know what it was. Neither thought Sidious himself was going to go on a one-Sith rampage, so they had agreed he must have some sort of accomplices or else a very, very large weapon.

This had led to a slightly awkward conversation involving some plans Dooku had passed along to Sidious from the engineers on Geonosis.

_"So you mean to tell me that 'very, very large weapon' is a moon-sized understatement." Obi-Wan had commented dryly, earning a casual shrug from Dooku._

_"You could indeed interpret it that way, yes." Dooku had conceded. "Though said weapon will take quite some time to build, so I don't believe it's likely to be part of the plan, at least not as of now."_

And so they had once again been left without much to go on, hence the switch in subjects to dueling. According to Dooku, though Sidious rarely used a lightsabre he was still very adept at it, so much so that even combined they would stand little chance against him should it come to a fight.

"You just lost a leg." Dooku commented, turning his sabre and making a mock strike at Obi-Wan's knee. Obi-Wan looked down, shrugged, and swung his sabre at Dooku, stopping short of hitting him.

"I think you just lost something far more important." The Jedi replied with a small smile, gesturing at Dooku's head.

"Indeed. I find it useful." Dooku agreed. "As for you-" He stopped in the middle of what was no doubt going to be a witty, insulting comment, and both he and Obi-Wan looked towards the doorway of the training room. Sev'rance was waiting patiently for their attention, and once she had it, she began.

"My apologies for the interruption, but I have the files you had Asajj request." She told Dooku, striding into the room. With a respectful nod at Obi-Wan, she handed Dooku a datapad.

"Thank you, Tann. Dare I ask why Asajj did not deliver then herself?" Dooku asked her, and Sev'rance gave him a look that was an odd combination of exasperation, confusion, and disdain.

"She said something about having something more important to be doing. She seemed assured you wouldn't mind." She shrugged her shoulders elegantly. "Do you need anything else?"

"No, Tann. You're dismissed; I'm certain you have something that is _actually_ important to be doing."

Sev'rance nodded her head at Dooku respectfully, did the same for Obi-Wan, and then strode from the room.

"Why isn't _she_ your apprentice? She seems well suited to be." Obi-Wan asked, as Dooku turned on the datapad.

"I didn't have enough desire for an apprentice to deal with Sidious before." Dooku told him, prompting an amused look from Obi-Wan.

"I feel appreciated."

"You should, because I am about to counteract it." The Sith told him, looking up. "I need to go over these, so our sparring session shall have to be cut short."

"Cut short? Cut _shorter_, perhaps. But I was tiring of killing you over and over again." Obi-Wan commented.

"Really? I didn't feel the same way." Dooku said lightly, looking up from the datapad again. "As it is, I would appreciate it if you would meet me in my study in an hour; we shall need to go over what we know again, and if we do not set a time, it will not happen."

"Yes, because I have so much else to be doing right now." Obi-Wan said, amused.

"Couldn't you be hotwiring something, or doing something I explicitly asked you not to, or whatever else amuses you?"

"Possibly." Obi-Wan conceded. "Alright, I will be there." He thought about it for a moment. "Provided I can find it again."

* * *

"Obi-Wan!"

Obi-Wan turned when he heard his name called, looking back down the hallway he'd just come from to see Quinlan jogging towards him.

Obi-Wan had been wandering the fortress for the previous hour, doing very little other than learning his way around. It wasn't particularly difficult when he had a chance to concentrate, and he'd finally had that chance. He was quite impressed he hadn't run into anyone until this point, and even more so that Asajj hadn't leapt from around a corner yelling, "Boo!"

Shaking the mental image from his head, Obi-Wan waited a moment for the Quinlan to reach him before looking at the other Jedi quizzically.

"These halls are longer than they need to be." Quinlan muttered under his breath.

"They make the capes look more dramatic." Obi-Wan told him, swishing his cloak once in demonstration. "What did you need, Quin?"

Quinlan gave Obi-Wan a look that was a cross between amusement and annoyance, prompting another confused look from Obi-Wan. "Obi-Wan, it would be really nice if you kept your crazy girlfriend away from _my_ girlfriend."

"What?" Obi-Wan asked, doubly confused by the request. "What are you talking about?"

"Ventress." Quinlan said.

"And which of the two is she?" Obi-Wan asked, quirking an eyebrow and getting a 'very funny' look from Quinlan. "Alright, what is she doing?"

"She's giving rather threatening looks at Khaleen." Quinlan said with a sigh. "She hasn't done anything else, but she has that look that she gets when she's plotting someone's terrible demise."

Obi-Wan sighed as well, shaking his head. "I'm not entirely certain why you think Ventress would listen to me."

Quinlan shrugged. "It seems that you and Dooku are the two she most pays attention to, and I wasn't about to ask Dooku."

Obi-Wan smiled then, amused. "Why not? That would have been an interesting conversation."

"Funny." Quinlan said. "I would ask if you could imagine his response to that, but you probably can."

"That you're right frightens me into thinking I've been spending far too much time with him." Obi-Wan commented, then shook his head. "As for what he'd do, he'd look offended that you were even speaking to him, and then he'd look more offended by the fact that his Acolytes are rather immature."

"They are kind of... Unimposing, once you get to know them." Quinlan commented in agreement. "The only one who might be taken seriously anymore is Tann. Skorr is a teacher's pet, Darc is a coward, and Ventress is jealous and insane."

"Those seem to be accurate descriptions." Obi-Wan agreed. "Alright, I'll see what I can do about Ventress, and I suggest you keep an eye on Khaleen for her own safety. Where is she now?"

"I left her with Tann." Quinlan said, turning to begin back down the hall. "But Tann's patience isn't infinite so I'd better get back. May the Force be with you. If you're going to talk to Ventress, you'll need it."

"Thank you, Quin." Obi-Wan responded flatly. "For your compassion and concern."

"Anytime." Quinlan called back before disappearing around the corner of the hall.

* * *

Obi-Wan stepped into Dooku's office, glancing around at the many shelves and the datapads they were filled with before turning his attention towards Dooku. "Have you found anything?"

"No." Dooku said, sounding displeased from where he was sitting in a chair, frowning in concentration as he scanned the datapad Sev'rance had given him earlier. He looked up as Obi-Wan approached. "I've found some things of interest, but nothing that I can be certain of. Of course, as our information is rather general, it's going to be difficult to pinpoint an exact method so that we may thwart it."

"You have no idea in the slightest how he intends to go about destroying the entire Order?" Obi-Wan said, wandering towards the shelves and looking them over for anything useful.

"No." Dooku said, watching the Knight. "And I don't believe it would be especially intelligent to ask him, either."

Obi-Wan sighed, but couldn't argue with that. "There has to be something you're missing." Obi-Wan said, turning away from the shelves.

"Something _I'm_ missing?" Dooku echoed, sounding maligned and glancing up from his datapad.

"Yes. I'm not privy to secret Sith endeavors, remember? I'm not even privy to whether there is anything edible in this fortress." Obi-Wan replied, pulling a large, very old looking book from the shelves and opening it.

"Would you like to be? You'll have to fight Skorr for it; he requested first."

"I care _nearly_ enough, but no."

"Pity. I would have liked to se you and Skorr battle to the death." Dooku said, glancing up again and giving Obi-Wan what was nearly a smirk. "Perhaps though, over something more interesting, such as Asajj."

Obi-Wan sighed and put the book back. "Provided I had _any_ incentive to fight over Asajj, do you really hate Skorr that much?"

"Your schizophrenic arrogance both amuses me and causes me great confusion." Dooku said with a shake of his head.

"It's good for you. My ego balances yours out." Obi-Wan told him.

"Or perhaps it simply combines with mine to create one horrible, pervasive field of megalomania. We should compete against the Acolytes."

"I don't know; they might win. Unless of course Darc detracts from their overall score."

"Asajj can compensate if he does. And we can't underestimate Tann or Vos, though Skorr is not particularly egocentric, simply loud." Dooku sounded as though he was putting a lot of thought into it.

"What if we claim Sidious? We would simply have to turn on the holonet and watch him bluster in the senate, and he can compete from afar." Obi-Wan added, amused.

Dooku scoffed. "It would be no contest. He has both of us outdone; the Acolytes would have no chance."

"What if it was Sidious versus you, I, and the Acolytes combined?"

"Our collective arrogance may just be enough for a victory." Dooku said, and looked as though he was seriously considering it.

"Now if only figuring out whose arrogance crushed whose would actually help us discover what we're attempting to discover." Obi-Wan said, drifting back towards Dooku's desk.

Dooku thought about that for a moment, then suddenly looked up at the Jedi. "It might. Sidious _is_ arrogant; enough so to believe he could outsmart anyone who might oppose him."

"Everything he has done has been in plain sight." Obi-Wan said, catching the train of thought. "Because he believes both that he can place everything in front of his enemies and they wouldn't figure it out, and that by doing so, it would actually serve to allay suspicion. He would hide his true plans in plain sight, and likely have them set in motion in an entirely different way."

Dooku suddenly stood. "Obi-Wan. The clones."

Obi-Wan stared at him, taking a moment to process that. "The clones. We're talking about the ones that make up the Grand Army, correct?"

"No, Darth Sarcasm, the other clones." Dooku said with a theatrical sigh.

"Who is being Darth Sarcasm now? And this is not a time for jokes." Obi-Wan told him, frowning and crossing his arms. "I was making certain I had heard you correctly."

"You did."

"We've established that."

Dooku sighed again and moved on as if they'd never become sidetracked. "The clones were ordered by myself under Sidious' orders, and while I had thought they were there simply to be used in the War, perhaps that was only intended as their _first_ use."

"They are with almost all of the Jedi that are not on Coruscant." Obi-Wan agreed, as the implications set in. "And with the War, few Jedi _are_ on Coruscant. The Temple is relatively unprotected."

"It wouldn't require many clones to take the Temple." Dooku said. "And it wouldn't be difficult to catch Jedi spread around the galaxy unaware with an attack by their very own troops."

Obi-Wan began pacing across the polished floor. "The army fits everything we were discussing that we believed Sidious would do. However, we have nothing besides that to go on."

"There is an, even in my opinion, enormous manual that accompanies the order of clones." Dooku informed him as he watched the Knight pace. "A master copy is kept on Kamino. As I placed the order, and you are a Jedi, we should be able to obtain a copy of our own."

Obi-Wan nodded. "And, if there is something hidden about them, we will find it."

"Indeed." Dooku agreed, standing up. "When will you be ready to depart?"

"Immediately." Obi-Wan responded, stopping and turning to face the Count.

"Good." Dooku said. "I shall make some arrangements with the Acolytes, and then the two of us will be on our way to Kamino."


End file.
